Key emergency documents in Northern Ireland were years out of date before Covid, with many failing even to mention a pandemic risk, the Covid-19 inquiry has heard.

Denis McMahon, permanent secretary for the Northern Irish executive, confirmed on Thursday that many documents and risk assessments had not been updated adequately before the pandemic.

The majority had not been updated since 2016. Some dated back to January 2010, with one to March 2002.

Documents included the guide to risk assessment, the guide to plan preparation, the guide to emergency planning and a protocol for Northern Ireland’s central crisis management arrangements.

When asked about the 2002 document, which related to “plan preparation”, McMahon said: “I would agree that it’s been out of date or that it is based on the model that is considered to be out of date.”

Many documents contained little or no references to the risk of a pandemic. A “key document” according to McMahon, which is dated 2011 but the inquiry heard is likely to be older, mentioned the possibility of a pandemic just three times despite being 210 pages long.

Referring to another supposedly crucial risk assessment document, chief counsel Hugo Keith KC said: “It contains no reference to pandemic planning. There are no references to individual risk assessments in this guide. It is a jargon-filled document about the overarching process of how to do a risk assessment.”

McMahon, too, criticised the “jargon” in documents, admitting this inhibited effective emergency planning.

“One of the challenges is the challenge of jargon,” he said. “It’s clear that it needs to be stopped. We need to start to think about this in a much simpler way that the public can understand.”

McMahon also criticised Northern Ireland’s lack of ministers when it came to pandemic planning. The country has struggled to install a long-running government for large periods of time since 1998, most recently between 2017 and 2020, and since February of this year.

“It is a unique position in Northern Ireland and, frankly, an unacceptable position not to have ministers,” said McMahon. “It is so fundamental to the operation of governments. We need the direction of control and we need the legitimacy that democratic accountability brings to decision-making.”

McMahon was speaking during the first module of the inquiry, which is seeking to explore the UK’s preparedness for the pandemic. Robin Swann, former minister of health for Northern Ireland between 2020 and 2022, will speak later today.

The inquiry continues.