Van Morrison takes legal action against Northern Ireland Department of Health over covid article

Van Morrison has begun lawful action in opposition to the Northern Ireland Section of Health and its minister Robin Swann.

The action will come just after Swann wrote an op-ed piece for Rolling Stone in September 2020, which slammed Morrison’s stance on lockdown and covid restrictions.

The piece claimed that Morrison’s anti-lockdown sights could problems general public health and fitness messaging in Northern Ireland and Swann additional that the songs that the artist had written relating to covid ended up “dangerous”.

Morrison launched a selection of music which even further shared his viewpoint, such as “No Additional Lockdown”, “Born to Be Free” and “As I Walked Out”.

“We in Northern Ireland are really very pleased of the simple fact that a single of the finest songs legends of the previous 50 several years arrives from our portion of the entire world,” wrote Swann in his op-ed.

“So there is a genuine emotion of disappointment – we predicted superior from him. If you see it all as a big conspiracy, then you are fewer very likely to follow the crucial community overall health suggestions that retains you and other individuals safe and sound.”

Morrison has now initiated authorized proceedings, wrote BBC Information NI on Monday (30 May).

“We confirm that legal proceedings have been issued against Mr Robin Swann MLA and the Section of Health as co-publishers of an op-ed in Rolling Stone,” verified a spokesperson for Morrison.

This arrives just after Swann himself began lawful proceedings against Morrison previous year right after the singer termed him “very dangerous” for his handling of coronavirus limits.

The Belfast-born singer vocally opposed limits to suppress the unfold of the virus, and introduced many tunes criticizing lockdowns. He denounced Swann in the course of a collecting at Belfast’s Europa Resort right after a Morrison live performance was canceled at the final minute mainly because of virus restrictions.

The defamation accommodate connected to a few incidents in which Morrison criticised Swann, contacting him “a fraud” and “very dangerous.”