Northern Ireland Health Minister Sues Van Morrison

Health Minister Robin Swann filed a lawsuit against Van Morrison after the Northern Irish musician released songs to protest COVID-19 lockdowns and called Swann “very dangerous.” (Wikimedia Commons)

Northern Ireland Health Minister Robin Swann filed a lawsuit against Belfast-born musician Van Morrison following a series of anti-lockdown songs and comments last June. The defamation suit cites several incidents in which Morrison has criticized Swann, at various times labeling him “very dangerous” and “a fraud.” The minister is not suing in his official capacity on behalf of the Northern Ireland Executive but rather as a private citizen.

The dispute began in September 2020, when Morrison announced that he would release three songs to protest the U.K.’s COVID-19 lockdowns. In one of them, titled “No More Lockdown,” Morrison sings, “No more lockdown/No more threats/No more Imperial College scientists makin' up crooked facts,” while referring to “fascist police.” Swann responded with an op-ed in Rolling Stone that accused Morrison of supporting conspiracy theorists. In June, Morrison chanted, “Robin Swann is very dangerous!” at a dinner show in Belfast, leading the health minister to sue him for defamation. A Belfast court initially issued its summons immediately after that event, but news of the lawsuit only broke on November 7.

Morrison’s lawyer Joe Rice characterized the singer’s actions as a campaign against government overreach, saying, “​​Mr. Morrison has consistently campaigned for the relaxation of the coronavirus regulations, believing them to be unlawful insofar as they imposed a blanket ban on the ability of all musicians to perform live music.” Morrison filed a lawsuit in June to challenge regulations that banned live concerts, but he dropped the suit when the Northern Ireland Assembly voluntarily relaxed those rules.

The U.K. has gone through a series of lockdowns since the beginning of the pandemic, and each one has provoked public protests. Hundreds of people marched in Belfast over this summer, many carrying signs with anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine slogans. Besides COVID-19 policy, political tensions in Northern Ireland are already elevated over negotiations between the U.K. and the EU over the Irish border. The U.K. has threatened to invoke a clause that would effectively end the current protocol for transit over the contentious border. With the possibility of political violence already looming, additional discontent over lockdowns could only serve to fuel unrest.