Northern Ireland has spent €7.2bn tackling Covid, Audit Office says

The report makes no assessment of the value for money of individual measures. Picture: Ben Birchall/PA

The cost of responding to Covid-19 in Northern Ireland has risen to more than £6.2bn (€7.2bn), according to a new Audit Office report.

The report by Comptroller and Auditor General Kieran Donnelly estimated that the cost to Stormont departments of a range of measures to combat the impact of the pandemic was £3.9bn (€4.5bn), and the cost of Westminster schemes which apply to Northern Ireland was £2.3b (€2.7bn) at March 31 this year.