THE Stormont Executive is set to finalise and publish a five-stage plan later on Tuesday for easing lockdown restrictions in the North of Ireland.
For the past week, the five parties that make up the Executive have been holding detailed discussions about how and when some restrictions could be lifted.
It is expected the blueprint will be published at about 11.30 am and will then be debated by MLAs in the Assembly.
Ministers have already stressed that each step of the plan will be “incremental and cautious”.
On Monday, Downing Street published a conditional plan to ease lockdown, but it mostly applies only in England.
The North of Ireland, Scotland and Wales have their own powers to set and lift restrictions at different rates.
In England, Boris Johnson has placed projected dates next to several phases of easing the lockdown, but Stormont ministers have insisted this should not happen in the North of Ireland.
The Executive wants “sufficient flexibility” to allow it to make modifications in line with scientific advice, as opposed to setting dates that may need to be pushed back, if there is another spike in cases.
Ministers have already extended the lockdown in the North of Ireland until Thursday, May 28, so the earliest the recovery plan is likely to come into effect is the beginning of June.
On Monday, Sinn Féin junior minister Declan Kearney said the coronavirus regulations would continue to be reviewed on a three-week cycle and that any amendments would be informed by:
The latest medical and scientific advice
The ability of the health service to cope
An assessment of the effect on health, society and the economy
As the infection has spread at different rates in various parts of the UK, Stormont ministers have said the North of Ireland must follow its own criteria and scientific advice.
The R-value – or reproduction number – is at the heart of the Executive’s decision to extend the lockdown until at least the end of May.
The R-number shows how many people will get infected for every one person who gets ill.
In the North of Ireland, the R-rate is sitting just below one, at 0.8-0.9, and the Executive has said it must remain at a low level before restrictions can begin to be lifted.
DUP junior minister Gordon Lyons has already stressed there will be “no dramatic lifting” of any measures here any time soon.
There may be some minor changes announced by the executive that could take effect this week, on issues such as outdoor exercise and potentially some churches being allowed to facilitate individual private prayer but not for services.
Other parts of the UK have already changed their advice around exercise, but in the North of Ireland the current advice remains to only exercise once a day by yourself or with your household.
From Wednesday, people in England will also be allowed to meet one person from outside their household as long as they stay outdoors and stay 2m apart.
There are also questions about how the Republic of Ireland’s recovery plan fits with what the NI Executive will announce.
The Irish government had already announced a five-stage detailed plan for bringing the Republic of Ireland slowly out of lockdown, beginning on Monday, May 18.
Garda checkpoint on border earlier this month at Bridgend as officers check driver details and reason for travel
At the start of the lockdown, it emerged that gardaí had been informed they had no enforcement powers over people from the North of Ireland, who may have breached Covid-19 regulations in the Republic.
But gardaí said people who crossed into the Republic for non-essential journeys may have been breached lockdown restrictions in the North.
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