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Brexit prep forced Northern Ireland to ‘cannibalise’ departments before Covid

The UK’s only nation to border the EU was left to prepare for Brexit with no ministers, says Denis McMahon

By Ruby Lott-Lavigna
Brexit prep forced Northern Ireland to ‘cannibalise’ departments before Covid
People walk past a "Vote Leave" sign as they arrive to cast their ballots at a polling station in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 23 June 2016 | PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images
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Preparing for a no-deal Brexit forced the Northern Ireland government to “cannibalise” departments, a senior civil servant has said.

Speaking during the Covid-19 inquiry on Thursday, Denis McMahon, permanent secretary for the Northern Irish executive, explained how the unique political impact of Brexit to Northern Ireland – which shares a land border with the EU – took up large amounts of civil service focus and diverted it from emergency planning.

“We had to cannibalise departments in order to move people out of areas of work and into preparations for an EU exit,” McMahon told the inquiry.

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