In announcing the establishment of an expert group to identify lessons from the pandemic for the health service, the Government last week took the first step in the long reckoning that must take place now that the worst of the crisis appears to have passed. The group comprises 13 medics and other health experts – though, notably, no patients or patient-advocates – and will be tasked chiefly with identifying reforms for the public health system and in pandemic-preparedness.
That will be an important dimension of the reflection on the State’s handling of the pandemic, but it is only one among many. A rigorous and comprehensive inquiry must be set up with terms of reference that are broad enough to capture structural questions – how Government made its decisions, how it interacted with its public health advisers, and how it balanced the competing imperatives it had to weigh in imposing restrictions. However it must also be specific enough to encompass questions around procurement, the test-and-trace system and the handling of Covid in care homes. Any such inquiry would look at the vaccination programme, the rationale for individual restrictions, the position of vulnerable communities, the influence of vested interests on policy and the ability of Government to respond in real-time to evolving scientific information, such as on face masks or airborne transmission.
For all of these themes to be addressed, a broader inquiry is essential. And there is no need to wait for the pandemic to end, as Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has suggested, before setting one up. A British parliamentary inquiry produced important insights into that country's pandemic response last year, and a public inquiry is planned. Sweden appointed an expert commission to investigate its official response months ago. In Norway, an independent inquiry issued a 450-page report last April. In its programme for government, the Coalition committed to "review and learn lessons" from the handling of the pandemic. That implies a much wider accounting than is currently proposed. It should begin without delay.