THE LONG-PROMISED EXAMINATION of Ireland’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic will have an “independent panel” appointed before October, the Tánaiste has said.

Micheál Martin gave the clearest indication yet on the timeline for the lookback on how Ireland coped when Covid hit the world, but he reiterated his stance that it would not take the “adversarial” shape of the inquiry as seen in the UK.

Instead he prefers to call it an “evaluation” of the government and public health officials’ response to the crisis.

Speaking to Irish media during a State visit in Kenya, Martin said he wants to have the “proposal published and people appointed” in the coming weeks. He outlined he would like to see this take place “before the autumn restart” when the Dáil returns in mid-September.

Martin was speaking before the publication of the UK’s inquiry into the pandemic yesterday, which found that there “several significant flaws” in pandemic planning in the UK.

He further defended Health Minister Stephen Donnelly for the delays in setting up the panel, saying that it was the responsibility of the “three party leaders” instead.

“It has to be set up before this government comes to a conclusion so I’d like it done before the autumn restart,” he said.

In the UK, the inquiry often focused on disagreements between politicians and health officials during that time, with much of the spotlight on back-and-forth exchanges that played out over text messages.

Martin said he himself “didn’t do a lot of text messaging” during the pandemic, explaining that he is “of a generation” that likes to “pick up the phone, talk to people and meet people” as part of decision-making.

Martin said he felt the UK inquiry was “adversarial” and didn’t “shed as much light” on what happened in the UK during the pandemic

He added that the government is “not ruling” out holding public sessions as part of the work by the independent panel but insisted that it can’t be a “catch-you-out type of inquiry”.

“I think the danger with the [UK] inquiry-type model is that you’ll get people too caution in a future crisis,” Martin said.

“The worst thing you could possibly have in the middle of a crisis is someone to say ‘How is this decision going to look in two years time when there’s an inquiry?,” he said.

“The worst thing you need in a crisis is people ticking boxes and protecting themselves. You’ve got to have decision makers. You’ve got to make decisions and go for it. There’s no time to do anything else.”

Martin said he believes that “generally society feel we did well as a country overall” in terms of “excess deaths”, as people acknowledge it was an “unprecedented” crisis.

“It would be public sessions but not in the classic tribunal of inquiry mode because I don’t believe that’s where the people are either,” he said.

“But we do need to learn lessons because we didn’t get everything right. And because it would strengthen us for the future, that would be my main interest.”

He said it was important to “evaluate” how Ireland did by having a “broad look at it from a societal point of view”, noting that it should consider the economic interventions by the State and the public health structure.

“We do need to evaluate. That’s fundamental to prepare better for the future,” Martin said.

Asked if public hearings would take place, he said he supported them taking place but warned that a tribunal of inquiry could see “people coming with legal teams” and that it may become “more about performance” as a result.

With reporting by Jane Matthews in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia