Christmas won’t be cancelled due to Covid, Foster insists

By David Young, PA

Arlene Foster has insisted coronavirus will not keep families apart this Christmas.

The First Minister said it was important people were able to celebrate Christmas as they always do in Northern Ireland.

Her comments came after chief medical officer Dr Michael McBride said the region would experience a “very different” Christmas this year as a consequence of Covid-19 restrictions.

Dr McBride raised the prospect of even tighter measures being in place during the festive period than there are currently.

Speaking to Cool FM on Tuesday night, Mrs Foster said: “Let me say this, Christmas will not be cancelled.

“It is such an important time of the year. I absolutely adore Christmas, it’s a wonderful time of course for those of us who are Christians to celebrate but generally it’s so important that families can come together and be together at that time.

“So I understand all of the worries many, many families have, but it is so important that we celebrate Christmas as we always do in Northern Ireland, in a very meaningful way.

“And I’m very much looking forward to Christmas.”

Earlier, Dr McBride and chief scientific adviser Professor Ian Young predicted that the Executive would factor in the societal benefits of family get-togethers at Christmas when weighing up any future decisions on restrictions that might apply.

“I think it’s fair to say that Christmas will be very different from previous years, because we will still have many of the restrictions in place that we currently have, if not all, and indeed there may be further restrictions in place at that time,” said Dr McBride.

He added: “The Executive will wish to consider this very, very carefully and be mindful of the societal benefits of us coming together more over the Christmas period, insofar as that can be achieved safely.”

Prof Young said: “I think Christmas is a really good example of a time when the societal benefits of allowing more interaction will be much greater than other times of the year.

“While I think it’s likely that there may still need to be some restrictions in place at Christmas, I’m sure that we would wish to allow as much interaction as is possible safely at Christmas and allow as normal a Christmas that can be achieved in the context of a very serious global epidemic.”