Taoiseach expects inquiry this year into handling of Covid-19

Varadkar says process not 'about pointing fingers or ascribing blame' but improving preparedness for any future pandemics

The inquiry will look to improve pandemic preparedness, rather than putting blame on individuals, said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Picture: Denis Minihane

There will be an inquiry into Ireland's handling of Covid-19 in 2023, the Taoiseach "expects".

However, Leo Varadkar says he does not expect that the inquiry will be a "finger-pointing" exercise and that he is conscious that many staff who would be called to testify are still working on the frontlines.

Speaking to journalists ahead of Christmas, Mr Varadkar said that much of what will be discussed by the inquiry will look to improve pandemic preparedness, rather than putting blame on individuals.

The concept of an inquiry into various aspects of the pandemic has been floated for some time, but concrete steps have been slow in coming. In the UK, an inquiry has been under way since last summer to "consider and report on preparations and the response to the pandemic", particularly on whether various categories of people were treated differently. 

In Ireland, much focus is likely to be on the handling of nursing homes in particular.

"I think it's important that we [begin an inquiry in 2023]," said Mr Varadkar.

"It's not going to be about pointing fingers or ascribing blame. 

"It's going to be about getting to the truths, understanding what happened; what we did well, what we did badly, what could have been done better, because we can't assume that this is going to be the last major pandemic in our lifetime.

"In fact, you know, there's a good chance that in our lifetime, you will experience another very serious pandemic, and we need to be prepared for that, and that will be the purpose of the thinking behind the inquiry.

"I'd hope to have that established sometime in 2023," he said.

The Taoiseach added that he understands that Covid is still circulating and that many medical staff will be asked to testify while that is happening.

"But certainly, the expectation is that we would have that inquiry up and running during the course of 2023," he said.

"Some academic work by the expert group has been done already on that."

Private practice

The Taoiseach also said that he wants to see private practice in public hospitals ended. Health Minister Stephen Donnelly in December secured Cabinet approval for a new contract for hospital doctors which will see private care phased out of public and voluntary hospitals by 2025, including private and semi-private obstetric care.

Mr Varadkar said that the Government believes the €252,000-a-year deal for consultants "is a very good contract" but said that the trade-off must be public medicine in public buildings.

It provides for a significant increase in pay for consultants. And what we want in return is the phasing-out of private practice in public hospitals.

"We think it's ok for consultants to do private practice off-site. But we don't want private practice in our public hospitals any more," said Mr Varadkar.

"If you think about it, we would never consider having private schools within our schools. If you think about it, you know, we have the fee-charging schools. That's fine. That's people's choice. Imagine if in our public schools, we had a fee-payer class, and those kids got a smaller class and the teacher got paid more to see them.

"You would never dream of doing something like that," he said.