Irish Examiner view: Dozens of covid-19 questions need answers

As the Government struggles to think of pandemic inquiry terms of reference, here are some suggestions

Leo Varadkar at Blair House, Washington DC, during a press conference on the status of coronavirus in Ireland in March 2020. The Taoiseach has acknowledged that the scoping exercise to establish ground rules for Ireland’s inquiry into the covid-19 pandemic has not yet commenced. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

When Taoiseach Leo Varadkar acknowledged that the scoping exercise to establish ground rules for Ireland’s inquiry into the covid-19 pandemic had not yet commenced, some 25 months since we started to move out of lockdown, there was a plaintive quality to his comments.

“I can see across the water, in the UK,” he fretted, “it’s turning into all sorts of things.” That was before Boris Johnson flounced off when he learned that he faced a 90-day suspension from parliament for grievously misleading his colleagues. But enough of him.