Northern Ireland’s former health minister has said she was not told about the risks of a pandemic while in office.

Michelle O’Neill headed up the country’s health department between 2016 and 2017 and went on to be Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister between 2020 and 2022. She was repeatedly asked during her evidence-giving at the official Covid inquiry whether she was aware of documents and recommendations relating to pandemic risk and preparedness – including some in need of significant updating.

Chief counsel to the inquiry Hugo Keith KC asked O’Neill what she was told about the risk of an influenza pandemic when she became health minister given that the risk had been identified in 2013 as very high. O’Neill said it would only have come to her attention in relation to Exercise Cygnus, a UK government exercise to test flu pandemic readiness, that happened five months into her tenure as health minister.

“In terms of the first day, what I would have received, it was clear to me that in the event of a health emergency that we were the lead department, but it didn't go into any other more in-depth detail,” she said, before confirming that her awareness of much of the emergency planning guidance and documentation at that time was at a “high-level” only.

Keith asked O’Neill if, as minister of health, she was aware of the department’s risk register – the assessment of the greatest risks to health in Northern Ireland and actions to be taken. “That's not something that was ever brought to my attention,” the former deputy first minister replied.

Keith pressed O’Neill on whether she sought out more detail on Northern Ireland’s pandemic preparedness during her time as health minister. “When you became aware of exercise Cygnus – and no doubt the importance of the risks faced by Northern Ireland in terms of pandemic influenza – did you seek to educate yourself further about the planning, the contingencies, the arrangements that would need to be operated in the event of an emergency?” he asked.

O’Neill answered by saying her priority on entering the department of health had been to transform the delivery of healthcare in Northern Ireland, including securing cross-party support for healthcare reform.

“As the minister of health [and] the person who holds the risk register for the department, the issue of what risks Northern Ireland sensed in terms of health emergency couldn't have been far from the forefront of your mind?” Keith followed up.

O’Neill said the formal report from Exercise Cygnus came after she had left office, but added: “Even before any formal report came in, I don't recall ever receiving even an informal report from my own specialists as to the effectiveness of the operation.”

She said health emergency planning and preparedness in Northern Ireland may have been discussed between other senior officials or chief medical officers during her tenure as health minister, but agreed it was “regrettable” that this did not reach ministerial level.

Keith asked O’Neill whether she would have expected out-of-date emergency health planning strategies and documents to have been brought to her attention during her time as health minister. O’Neill said this was “a very reasonable expectation” but agreed, when questioned, that it had not been met in this case.

On Tuesday, the former first minister of Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster, told the inquiry that the country’s resilience and pandemic preparedness had been affected by a breakdown in power sharing arrangements between 2017 and 2020. She said Westminster should have stepped in to fill this gap.

Chief counsel Keith asked O’Neill if there was “an easy flow of communication at ministerial level with London” during her time as health minister and then deputy first minister.

“That wouldn’t be my experience,” O’Neill said, speaking specifically about the start of the pandemic. “I found that meetings were called at short notice. documentation wasn’t shared in advance… I found that these were meetings to hand down the decision that had already been taken by the British government as opposed to any attempt to find an agreed way forward.

“I felt on many occasions they were, what I would describe as, ad hoc and tickbox meetings.”

The inquiry continues.