by Matthew Austin , Laura O'Farrell January-17-2025 in Commercial & Business
The Government has published its long-awaited Terms of Reference for an evaluation of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Unlike the Covid-19 inquiries in the UK, the Irish version will be a “non-statutory” evaluation process with the intended outputs being “future-focused” recommendations.
Terms of Reference
The objectives under the Terms of Reference are:
- To provide a factual account of the overall strategy and approach to planning for and handling of the pandemic in Ireland covering the period 1 January 2020 to 28 February 2022.
- To identify lessons learned having regard to health and social care system performance and the wider Government response to managing and mitigating risks.
- To recommend guiding principles and processes to guide future decision-making in the context of rapidly moving threats of this scale and duration.
The Terms of Reference will be of particular interest to providers of long-term residential care facilities for older persons, as the scope of the inquiry includes undertaking a module of work to examine the response in these facilities. The Terms of Reference include taking account of the work of the Expert Panel on Nursing Homes and subsequent implementation progress reports (including the lived experience of the bereaved families) to provide an overall assessment of learnings from these.
Out of Scope
There are exclusions to the scope of the evaluation. The evaluation panel will not examine:
- any clinical decisions made by individual clinicians;
- the implementation of measures in specific locations/settings (save for the module on nursing homes);
- the specific epidemiology of the COVID-19 virus; and
- vaccine efficacy and adverse outcomes.
The Panel
The evaluation will be undertaken by a multi-disciplinary panel chaired by Professor Anne Scott, a Professor Emerita from University of Galway, appointed to oversee the process. Professor Scott has worked as a clinician and academic in Ireland and abroad and has extensive experience and knowledge of the Irish healthcare system. Other panel members are in the process of being identified and confirmed.
Non-Statutory Process As part of the process, there will be an opportunity for submissions from a broad range of interested parties. It is also intended to have a public consultation element to hear the lived experiences of all society. However, unlike a statutory inquiry, the chair will not be able to compel any witnesses or make legally enforceable demands for documents to be produced. The process will rely on voluntary co-operation from participants.
During its tenure, interim reports will be submitted by the evaluation panel, with a final report expected to be submitted to the Taoiseach approx. 12-18 months after the evaluation commences.
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About the Authors
Matthew Austin
Matthew is a partner in the Commercial & Business team and has considerable expertise in a range of practice areas, having acted for Irish and International clients in domestic and multi-jurisdictional issues. Matthew has advised in civil and administrative law disputes and in regulatory and advisory matters including insolvency/restructuring, IP, defamation and media law, competition and consumer protection and data protection.
Laura O'Farrell
Laura is a solicitor in the Commercial & Business team. She practices in commercial litigation and dispute resolution and acts for a variety of companies, financial institutions, State bodies and individuals in contract law cases, enforcement and recovery actions and general commercial litigation matters. Laura also provides advice on a wide range of commercial and business law matters and regulatory requirements.