t is almost a year since the lifting of restrictions in late January 2022 marked the end of the public health emergency that had plunged the country into repeated and lengthy lockdowns. Even though Covid cases in hospitals have recently shown sharp increases, and although we would be unwise to be complacent about the threat still posed by the virus and the potential for mutations, the emergency lockdown phase seems as far away now as it was ubiquitous and ever-present last year. The State’s response limited the number of deaths until the vaccine rollout arrived, and that led to the gradual lifting of restrictions.
However, it is now past time for a calm, thorough and independent evaluation of how the State dealt with the crisis. Former taoiseach Micheál Martin repeatedly promised such an inquiry, while cautioning against the temptation to point fingers and make judgments with the benefit of hindsight. That’s reasonable. But we need to get on with it now.
This time last year, in response to questions, Martin confirmed that there would be an investigation into the response of Government and civil servants. The then taoiseach indicated his preference for a “fact-finding mission” rather than a “witch hunt”. During a once in a 100-year event like a pandemic, he correctly observed that mistakes will be made. “The important thing is to learn from them,” he noted. Martin was right. But no inquiry was ever set up.
The new Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, has indicated his intention to press ahead with one. Speaking to journalists before Christmas, he said it was the Government’s intention to proceed with the process in 2023. He should move on it as a matter of urgency.
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Ireland’s performance during Covid was pretty good, but not beyond criticism and certainly not beyond inquiry. Our excess death rates were considerably lower than many comparable countries, and the handling of the crisis often seemed a model of caution and restraint compared to both the US and the UK. But there are reasonable questions about several aspects and episodes of the management of the pandemic. They include, but are not limited to, the early reluctance to recommend masks, the sourcing, spending on and provision of PPE, the sending of patients back to nursing homes, the Christmas reopening of 2020 which was followed by a long, long lockdown, the extent of school closures and the priority given to the reopening of hospitality.
This is not necessarily to point fingers at individuals or put people on the spot. Rather it is to enable us all to learn about what we did right and what we did wrong, to learn lessons for the future and, ultimately, to be better prepared to deal with the ongoing threat from Covid and the possible pandemics of the future. Time to get a move on.