Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice NI Conference – Saturday 4th March 2023

Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Northern Ireland will be holding a conference at the Europa Hotel, Belfast this Saturday 04^th of March 2023, from 11am until 1pm, to bring together bereaved families and their legal representatives (UK and NI) to discuss the progress of the UK-wide Covid Public Inquiry, which will look into the handling of the Pandemic in NI.

It will be possible to interview bereaved families / speakers at the Event between 10.45 – 11.25am. Planning to kick off our event at 11.30am sharp. Unfortunately, the Press can only stay up to approx. 11.25am due to undertakings that the families have signed to the Rt Hon Baroness Heather Hallett (Chair of UK Covid-19 Inquiry) in respect of the Inquiry proceedings. The face-to-face Event will be an opportunity for families bereaved by Covid-19 to come together and learn more about the progress of the UK-wide Inquiry and the NI campaign group. There will be a Q & A session following a talk from our legal panel. 

Anyone who has lost a loved one to Covid-19 in Northern Ireland is warmly welcomed to join us, to find out more about what the Inquiry hopes to achieve, and how you might want to be involved. We are encouraging families who have any issues that are relevant to preparedness (Module 1) who would like to put themselves forward as a Witness to let us know by 10/03/23.

Journalists are also warmly invited to join the Event to hear from speakers and families. We will be happy to arrange interviews at the Europa Hotel. 

Bereaved daughters and campaign leads Brenda Doherty and Martina Ferguson, who both lost their mothers to Covid-19, have made the following statement ahead of the event:

“This is a really important step for our campaign; our campaign has been growing and this is now the second time we have been able to get everyone together with our UK & NI legal teams to discuss how we get justice for families like ours who lost loved ones to Covid-19 in Northern Ireland.  Recently, our group have been granted Core Participant (CP) status for Module 3 of the UK-wide Inquiry, which means we have a legal role within the Inquiry for all three Modules to date now (1, 2 & 3). Our CP status will allow us to see evidence provided by Government and Public Authorities, and guide the questions asked during the Inquiry especially with Module 1 Public Hearings starting very soon.

The Bereaved families are honouring those we have lost by making sure that everything is done to keep people safe in the future. Nobody wants to be in our position but seeing as sadly so many of us in Northern Ireland find ourselves missing a loved one to Covid-19, we will come together to make sure our voices are heard loud and clear. Saturday’s event at the Europa Hotel is our 2^nd formal get-together and we want to help families understand the public inquiry process, our role as CPs as well as disclosure to date. We look forward to seeing you there”.

If any bereaved families have lost a loved one to Covid-19 and would like to come that haven’t joined our group yet please let us know as soon as in advance of Saturday 04 March 2023 by emailing us northernireland@covidfamiliesforjustice.org or email PA Duffy & Company solicitors at covidinquiry@paduffy.com or Telephone 02887722102

NORTHERN IRELAND COVID BEREAVED FAMILIES FOR JUSTICE (NICBFFJ)

Group leads:  Brenda Doherty and Martina Ferguson