LAST UPDATE | 30 Oct

CABINET HAS TODAY agreed to proceed with the long-awaited Covid-19 inquiry, but Government insist it is an “evaluation”, rather than an “inquiry”. 

The evaluation is expected to be up and running “in a matter of weeks” and will be chaired by retired NUIG professor Anne Scott. 

Scott is the former deputy president of Dublin City University and was also the head of the university’s school of nursing. 

She is also the chairperson of the government’s CervicalCheck steering committee and has lectured in universities in Ireland and the UK.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin said the evaluation will look at how the country performed during the coronavirus pandemic.

It will also evaluate how the country is prepared for potential future pandemics. 

Unlike a statutory inquiry, the evaluation’s chairperson and panel will not have the power to compel documents or witnesses.

Details of the terms of reference released this evening say that a final report should be submitted to the Taoiseach in approximately 12-18 months.

The evaluation will be tasked with recommending guiding principles and processes to guide future decision-making during rapidly moving threats of a similar scale and duration.

It will look at “the overall performance of the health and social care system” and “impacts, both immediate and longer term, on individuals, families and communities of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and the Government’s response to managing and mitigating risks of the disease and competing sectoral policy objectives (including the impact of the range of sectoral, business/economic and personal income supports)”.

A government spokesperson said the way in which the panel reports its findings will be decided by the chairperson and the panel, they may decide to issue a series of reports throughout the process rather than one final report. 

The evaluation will analyse the government’s response, how hospitals and nursing homes coped and the effect it had on wider society including the education system and businesses.

There will also be a “particular focus” on nursing homes.

Speaking to reporters in Dublin this morning, Micheál Martin said: “I welcome the fact that we will be pursuing this evaluation of how we performed in Covid.

“Recent studies, by the way, in the Lancet (medical journal) indicate that Ireland did even better than we might have thought in terms of mortality, notwithstanding the huge impact that Covid had on the lives of so many, many people.

“But I think it is important that we do evaluate comprehensively how we reacted and responded to Covid-19, because we could be facing future pandemics in the future, or future emergencies of a different kind, and we do have to interrogate our own systems to make sure that they respond properly.

Ahead of today’s Cabinet meeting, Taoiseach Simon Harris said it’s important to establish the structure of the inquiry before the dissolution of the Dáil.

Asked whether he is worried about an evaluation of his own performance as Health Minister during the pandemic, Harris said he supports the inquiry process and believes the findings will help the country better prepare for future events.

“Decisions were made. They were made in real time. They were made with the best information available to them.

“But even looking back now, it’s important that we look at what could have happened better, what could be done better in the future.”

The government said previously that the inquiry would involve a “no-blame approach”.

 The inquiry will be non-statutory and will seek to “provide a factual account of the overall strategy for and handling of Covid-19 in Ireland”.

It not intended to cover clinical questions or vaccine efficacy or outcomes.

Leader of Aontú and Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín has said the “wishy washy Covid evaluation is not good enough”, given the number of people who died during the pandemic.

“It would be impossible for any government to get everything right in the middle of a pandemic,” Tóibín said. “But we need to work out what decisions were beneficial and which ones caused societal damage. There must be accountability for waste.”

With reporting by Mairead Maguire and PA