Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the Role of the Northern Ireland Assembly

Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the role of the Assembly

What is Coronavirus (COVID-19)?

A coronavirus is a type of virus. COVID-19 is a new strain of coronavirus that can affect your lungs and airways. Everyone should do what they can to stop coronavirus spreading.

Symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19)

Symptoms include:

a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature);
a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual).

How you can help:

stay at home - only go outside for food, health reasons, or work (but only if you cannot work from home)
stay two metres (six feet) away from other people
wash your hands well and often

Role of the Assembly

The strategy for dealing with the impact of COVID-19 is enacted by the Northern Ireland Executive in conjunction with the UK Government. MLAs are responsible for scrutinising the work of the Executive Ministers. They do this by asking questions of Ministers during Question Time and following Ministerial statements in the Assembly Chamber.

The Assembly is continuing to hold weekly plenary sittings. You can find out when the Assembly is scheduled to sit via the Business Diary. You can view plenary sittings live or catch up on previous plenary debates on the Assembly’s TV site. You can also read a full transcript of Assembly plenary sessions in the Official Report.

MLAs also play their part through their role on Committees. Assembly Committees scrutinise the work of Executive Departments and their Ministers and on how they are dealing with the response to COVID-19. They do this by holding evidence sessions with Ministers, Departmental officials and other stakeholders to establish what the issues are, how matters are being dealt with and what more can be done to help.

Due to the serious implications of the COVID-19 crisis, the Assembly has also established an Ad Hoc Committee on the COVID-19 Response. This Committee was established to receive oral statements from Ministers, and to provide an opportunity for all MLAs to question them on matters relating to the COVID-19 response.

Assembly Committees

Since the emergence of the COVID-19 threat, the response to this emergency has become the main focus of Assembly Committees. They have held a number evidence sessions and briefings to establish who has been affected and how the issue is being tackled. This includes:

Briefings from Ministers and Departmental officials to establish the response to the crisis, the issues involved and what decisions are being taken to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic here.
Evidence from stakeholders to establish who has been affected, how industries and other professional public and private sector bodies are being impacted, what steps they are taking and what additional support is required.

View more information on the work of the individual Committees in response to COVID-19...

Ad Hoc Committee on the COVID-19 Response

On Tuesday 31 March 2020 the Assembly established an Ad Hoc Committee to receive oral statements from Ministers on matters relating to the COVID-19 response and to question Ministers on such statements. All Members of the Assembly are members of the Committee. The Chairperson of the Committee is the Speaker or, in his absence, a Deputy Speaker.

The Committee meets regularly and you can check when they are next scheduled to meet via the Assembly’s Business Diary.

Meetings of the Committee are streamed live on the Assembly’s TV site, where you can also catch up on previous meetings.

You can also read a full transcript of all Ad Hoc Committee on the COVID-19 Response meetings in The Official Report.

View more information on the work of the Ad Hoc Committee...

Further Advice and Guidance

Your local MLAs will be able to provide you with further support and advice. You can search by Constituency area on the MLA section of the website.

You can also contact Assembly Committees who examine the work of Executive Departments and Ministers. You will find further information and contact details on the Committees homepage.

All Assembly Committees also use Twitter to post up to date information about their work.

Committee and Assembly Social Media Contacts and Guidance

RaISe Publications on COVID-19

The Assembly's Research and Information Service (RaISe) has produced a number of information articles and research publications related to the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

These easily digestible blog articles provide information on many areas related to the pandemic including: