That is us for the day - thanks for sticking with us.

There has been plenty of news but the day has been dominated by the row over senior Sinn Féin politicians attending the funeral of republican Bobby Storey yesterday.

Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill has stood by her actions, saying she was within the regulations and the public health guidance.

We'll be back tomorrow at 07:30 BST, so hopefully see you then.

Communities Minister Carál Ní Chuilín has announced £4m in extra funding for the arts sector.

The money has been reallocated by the executive as part of a budgeting exercise known as a monitoring round.

The funding will help support musicians, performers and cultural workers, arts venues and museums.

Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody has said funding musicians during the coronavirus pandemic is very much needed.

In a tweet, he stated many musicians have already lost four months of paying gigs "they sorely need".

"Music brings us joy and connects us to one another like nothing else and so it needs protected," said the frontman.

"Music is a massive part of our culture and what makes life truly worth living."

The Department for Communities said the additional funding would provide a "much needed boost for the sector" as they rebuild for the future following Covid-19.

The funding is part of an additional funding package that the department will receive, including almost £4m for the Housing Executive to help tackle homelessness, £4.5m for the Community Support Fund and £2m for the sports sector.

Minister Ní Chuilín said the pandemic had exposed the financial vulnerability of our arts and cultural organisations.

Packaging company Huhtamaki had been producing paper straws for McDonalds before branching off to producing personal protective equipment (PPE) two weeks into the lockdown.

It is now a major supplier of PPE for the NHS.

The company's Ciaran Doherty said: "We're now in a position where we're supplying four million plus visors a week into the NHS, both here in Northern Ireland and England."

Image source, PA Media

He said the move helped protect jobs as the company's traditional customers had effectively shut down due to the lockdown.

"Entering into the personal protective equipment market was a godsend for us really, not only were we able to provide significant benefit into healthcare, we're keeping our workers all busy.

"We see this as a very important market for us and we're confident we can continue to add value and continue to bring solutions."

He said they were also now supplying face masks for the general public.

A contact tracing app is expected to be released in Northern Ireland before the end of July, a Department of Health spokesperson has said.

It follows the failure of the NHS app in England, which was trialled on the Isle of Wight.

The main focus is still the contact tracing programme, which has been operational since mid-May.

This involves people with a positive test result being contacted by phone.

Read the full story here.

Image source, PA Media

The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland has restated its position that traditional Twelfth of July parades will not take place this year.

The parades were formally cancelled by the Orange Institution in April and they said their position has not changed, despite some recent easing in the Covid-19 guidelines and restrictions.

A spokesman said the medical advice was clear, "the risk from coronavirus is still a very real and present danger to our community".

Image source, Pacemaker

"Coronavirus spreads through crowds and therefore anything that brings large crowds on to the street should not take place at this time," he said.

"From the outset of this pandemic, our position has been consistent - we have sought to protect the health of not only our members, but the whole community in Northern Ireland.

"Unfortunately, others supposedly in positions of authority, by their recent actions, have not shown the same leadership or concern for public health."

Clodagh Rice
BBC News NI business correspondent

Trade at Northern Ireland's largest port fell 25% at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic but has already started to recover, a report has found.

It comes as Belfast Harbour published its results for 2019 with turnover down 4% at £65.9million.

This drop was caused by an offshore wind-farm contract ending last year and the continuing decline in the use of coal, but was partially offset by growth in the harbour's real estate activity.

Some 130 cruise ships were due to arrive in Belfast this year - the cruise industry is one of the hardest hit by the pandemic - it's now believed none of them will arrive as planned.

Belfast Harbour is a trust port which means it re-invests its income and currently has £115m of projects under way, supporting 4,000 jobs.

Belfast Harbour’s chairman David Dobbin said the full implications of the pandemic on trade and local economy were significant and still unfolding.

"So far trade through Belfast Port has proved remarkably resilient, early figures for March to May period show trade volumes down 20-25% on normal but in recent weeks throughput is running around 10% down on last year.

"The worst impacts have been in our cruise, tourist and leisure activities which have all but ceased during the crisis.

"The scale of the challenge to get the economy back to pre-crisis levels and to recover our tourist and leisure trade is immense."

Image source, NI Assembly

On Wednesday afternoon, Michelle O’Neill was grilled by a Stormont committee over her attendance at a large funeral yesterday.

She was asked - “Can you discharge the role of joint head of government with any authority after this?”

“I absolutely can, I can stand over my actions," she said.

She says she has led from the front and will “continue to lead from the front”.

“It’s unfortunate that a lot of the charges being levelled towards me are political points scoring as opposed to being about the rules,” she adds.

Read the full story here.

First Minister Arlene Foster says the credibility of the executive's public health message has been "severely damaged" after senior Sinn Féin politicians attended Bobby Storey's funeral on Tuesday.

Mrs Foster tells a Stormont committee she was unable to attend funerals that she herself should have attended because she "is a leader".

"I hope people look at it and say two wrongs don't make a right," Mrs Foster said.

"We need to make sure we give out clear messages as an executive," Mrs Foster said.

"It is still very important that we comply with the guidance and the regulations."

Lesley-Anne McKeown
BBC News NI

A £13.25m funding package will help secure the future of community pharmacy, Northern Ireland’s health minister has said.

Robin Swann said the investment would help address “historic challenges faced by the sector”.

Mr Swann said: “I am very pleased to be able to announce this investment in community pharmacy, which has responded promptly and professionally to the Covid-19 emergency response."

This funding is being made available up to next March.

It adds to a previous investment of £7.5m for the period April to June 2020 to help pharmacies maintain essential medicine supplies during the initial stages of the pandemic.

Image source, Reuters

Joe Brogan, head of pharmacy and medicines management at the Health and Social Care Board, said: “People rely upon their local pharmacies for medicines and advice from an accessible, trusted and respected healthcare professional.

"Community pharmacy teams have been exceptionally valuable in supporting the public, particularly in the recent past through very challenging times."

Cathy Harrison, chief pharmaceutical officer at the Department of Health, said: “Every day our community pharmacy staff work with the utmost professionalism on the front line of the HSC, providing accessible services for the public.”

Gerard Greene, chief executive of Community Pharmacy Northern Ireland, said: “This funding will allow the community pharmacy network to sustain and develop services to build upon its vital, front-line role.

"It is a clear recognition of the critical role of the sector, not only in the safe supply of medicines, but as the fabric which holds local communities together in times of crisis.”

Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill has said she is "satisfied" her actions in attending the funeral of Bobby Storey were "within the regulations"

"I brought in the regulations so I believe in the regulations," Ms O'Neill said.

Ms O'Neill said both the Mass and the cortege following the hearse all adhered to social-distancing guidelines.

"I'm satisfied my actions are within the regulations and within the public health guidance," Ms O'Neill told a Stormont committee.

"My actions I stand over," she added.

Ms O'Neill was one of several senior Sinn Féin politicians who attended the funeral, along with hundreds of other mourners.

"I will continue to work within the regulations and encourage everyone to stick within the regulations and the guidance we have set out," Ms O'Neill said.

First Minister Arlene Foster has called on Ms O'Neill to apologise for attending the funeral and said her actions "undermined the credibility" of the guidance and said it sent out a message of "do as I say and not as I do".

Louise Cullen
BBC News NI

Image source, Pacemaker

Four more training places for intensive care specialists have been commissioned by Northern Ireland's Health Minister Robin Swann

He said the speciality, which is relatively new, had been in great demand during the Covid-19 pandemic and had needed significant support from other disciplines such as anaesthetics.

Speciality training in NI is provided by the Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency and there are currently 19 doctors training in intensive care medicine.

The new trainees will begin in September 2020.

Dr Noel Sharkey, chair of the British Medical Association's Northern Ireland junior doctors committee, welcomed the announcement but wants to see similar increases in other areas, such as public health medicine.

Dr Sharkey has also warned any increase in training places must go “hand-in-hand” with changes to medical training throughout the health service.

“Having more medical trainee places is good for our health service, especially specialties where there are significant staffing gaps as has been the case for the past number of years,” he added..

“But quality of training is just as important as feet on the ground.”

No coronavirus-related deaths have been reported by Northern Ireland’s Department of Health in the last 24 hours, meaning the death toll remains at 551.

The department’s daily figures are mostly comprised of hospital deaths and where a patient had previously tested positive for the virus.

The latest figures on the department’s dashboard show one further confirmed positive case of the virus, with the total now standing at 5,761, external.

This afternoon's Talkback has also heard a discussion on the effectiveness of the use of face masks on public transport.

It comes after plans to make them mandatory in Northern Ireland were put on hold.

Speaking to the programme, Davy Thompson from the union Unite said making the masks mandatory would give the public more confidence.

"The vast majority of people will use them," he said.

He said he did not understand why plans to make them mandatory had been put on hold, and that it meant passengers travelling from Dublin to Belfast would have "to wear [a mask] from Dublin to Newry and then you can take it off".

Image source, PA Media

Also speaking on the programme was Kingston Mills, a professor of experimental immunology at Trinity College Dublin.

"It certainly offers considerable protection. You are going to significantly reduce the possibility of transmitting that to someone else," he said.

He said it was also a good idea to wear masks "in shops and other places where you are going to come into contact with a significant number of people".

Dr Simon Clarke, an associate professor of cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, provided a counterpoint to this.

He said there had been a range of studies on the effectiveness of the use of face masks.

"To say that the evidence is overwhelming, as some people do, is simply not true… this is an argument that requires balance, proper balance," he said.

Image source, Reuters

Ryanair will resume operating 40% of its schedule today.

The airline will have more than 1,000 daily flights operating across its network, restoring services on 90% of its routes.

However, the development comes amid an intense debate in the Republic of Ireland about whether people should or should not take summer holidays abroad.

Senior public health officials, including Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan, have been strongly urging those considering undertaking non-essential overseas travel not to do so.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is also advising against all non-essential overseas travel, and there is a legal requirement for passengers arriving into the country to fill in a form saying where they intend to self-isolate for two weeks.

Ryanair has been pushing the Irish government to drop the quarantine procedures, describing them as useless.

A regular contributor to BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme, political and social commentator Lily Kerr has spoken about the hurt of burying her son Brendan during the coronavirus lockdown.

She was reflecting on the experience following the attendance of leading Sinn Féin members, including Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill, at Bobby Storey's funeral in west Belfast.

Her son Brendan had worked as a chef and had two young children.

Image source, PA Media

"We had to drive behind [Brendan's coffin] and turn back at the gates of the crematorium, and see him go in on his own," she said.

"Then even worse his wife and his two children then had to drive home to Culcavy and we as a family all split up in our separate cars."

Ms Kerr said the rules meant her family couldn't give him "the farewell and the send-off that we wanted to".

"I don’t begrudge anyone the right to bury their loved one in a way they wish, but I think there are a lot of people who will be feeling what I am feeling at the moment - a sense that our loved ones somehow didn’t matter," she said.

"That they are less equal than others."

Ms Kerr said she had "sympathy" with the Storey family, and they could have "done without all of this".

TUV's Jim Allister has tabled motion of no confidence in Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill and has called for her resignation.

It comes after Ms O'Neill was one of several senior Sinn Féin politicians to attend a funeral on Tuesday, along with hundreds of other mourners.

On Wednesday, she defended her actions and said the funeral had taken place "in accordance" with coronavirus guidelines.

Partners can now be permitted to attend antenatal appointments, scans and be present for the full duration of labour from this Monday.

The easing of restrictions announced by Health Minister Robin Swann for expectant partners has been welcomed by Birthwise NI, a charity that campaigns for improvements in maternity care.

Catherine Muldoon, from the group, says "mothers and fathers have been in contact saying they're so relieved hearing this news".

"We want to thank Minister Swann for listening to the parents of Northern Ireland," Ms Muldoon told BBC Radio Foyle.

Ms Muldoon says a survey they conducted reflected the levels of anxiety many people felt about being unable to attend scans and births with their partners.

However, Ms Muldoon acknowledges there are still some women who will still be without a birth partner, for example if their partner is shielding.

Birthplace NI said those women can avail of the birth support programme, which provides them with a birthing partner or doula "completely free of charge".

Image source, Reuters

NI golfer Darren Clarke says postponing this year's Ryder Cup would be a "good decision" because the event "cannot be the same without fans".

Rory McIlroy wants the contest to be put back to 2021 because of the Covid-19 crisis and 2016 Europe captain Clarke agrees with his compatriot.

"A Ryder Cup without fans is not really a Ryder Cup," Clarke told BBC Sport NI.

"I think a postponement would probably be the best way forward and make it bigger and better than ever next year."

In recent days, there has been increasing speculation that this year's event will be put back to next year although there is yet to be any official announcement.

Read more here

BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme is on air now - there will be more on the fallout from the funeral of republican Bobby Storey, and First Minister Arlene Foster's call for Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill to apologise for attending.

The programme will also hear a discussion on the delay on why plans to make face masks obligatory in public transport in Northern Ireland have been put on hold, putting it out of step with other parts of the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

Taking part in the discussion will be Dr Simon Clarke, associate professor of cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, Professor Kingston Mills, a professor of experimental immunology at Trinity College Dublin, and Davy Thompson from Unite the Union.

To have your say call 03030805555 or email talk.back@bbc.co.uk.

Another sign that some form of normality is slowly returning, as British Airways flights returned to Belfast City Airport for the first time in months.