Irish Examiner view: Covid inquiry terms of reference are still a mystery

A new book about the onset of covid in China may offer perspectives for those looking into the way the pandemic has handled in Ireland

A doctor in an isolation outfit in Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan on February 13, 2020. By the time Wuhan was sealed off, as many as half a million people had left for the Lunar New Year holiday — an echo of the decision to proceed with the Cheltenham Festival in March 2020. Chinatopix/AP

Back in January, when snippets of information began to emerge in the lacklustre manner which has characterised Ireland’s approach to a covid inquiry, we were told that terms of reference were proving difficult to agree.

Feedback was awaited from opposition parties. But on some things Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly were clear. Ireland would adopt a “no-blame approach” and our own hearings would not be a “UK-style” inquiry.