Fergus Finlay: Ireland should take pride in how it responded to the covid-19 crisis

Any public inquiry into how the emergency was handled may reveal mistakes were made but it was done with honesty, good faith, and unremitting hard work

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at Blair House, Washington DC, discussing the government response to the coronavirus crisis during a press conference in March, 2020. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

Do you remember Leo Varadkar’s speech from Washington, back in March of 2020? The one where he cancelled St Patricks Day? While UK prime minister Boris Johnson had taken 10 days off to finish writing a book for which he had been given an £80,000 advance?

Our taoiseach was in the US leading the annual delegation from Ireland to the White House. It’s a unique thing: that annual opportunity to get real time with the leader of the free world — and everyone else who matters in the US.