Exploration Impacts: Ireland’s Independent COVID-19 Evaluation Stakeholder Roundtable Event Information Note
The independent COVID-19 Evaluation hosted a stakeholder roundtable event on the 24June 2025. This event explored societal impacts of the pandemic response in Ireland, aligned with the ongoing public consultation, across the following themes: education and development, mental health, disadvantaged and marginalised groups, community outreach and life stages, and carers and workers.
It was an opportunity for the Evaluation Panel and stakeholder organisations, representing different cohorts and policy areas across Irish society, to comment on initial high-level insights from the public survey findings and to explore emerging themes and patterns.
To learn lessons for the future, the Evaluation needs to understand direct and indirect impacts. The roundtable event explored the impact of restrictions and of various mitigating supports. This discussion will help the Evaluation to determine what aspects worked well, what didn’t, gaps in the overall approach, and potential lessons for the future. These insights will also help the Evaluation gain the understanding it needs to interrogate decisions and supporting systems in a holistic way.
Initial Survey Findings:
- High levels of negative impacts are emerging, in preliminary findings, across education & development, civil liberties, human rights & trust, and mental health. Those who reported difficulty in making ends meet reported considerably wider negative impacts across many dimensions.
- Education, particularly social development, is presenting as a significant issue for parents/guardians in initial analysis. Students are highlighting challenges around meaningful engagement with peers and extracurricular activities. Early findings also suggest mental health strains overall were most concerned with issues such as COVID-19 exposure and loneliness or isolation.
- The Evaluation is keen for more inputs from marginalised and disadvantaged groups.
Societal-focused roundtable discussion:
- Discussion highlighted how the pandemic exposed pre-existing inequalities. Life trajectories were disrupted and people’s circumstances governed how deeply they were impacted. This is the context in which balancing differing risks needs to be managed.
- There were related contributions on the need for sustained investment, against a backdrop of pre-existing gaps and overburdened systems.
- The State’s reliance on the community and voluntary sector, the resilience of workers, and the value of the forgotten frontline who provide family care came across strongly.
- There was a strong emphasis on the value of sustained collaboration and co-designing solutions. There was a particular focus on the need to have capacity, infrastructure, networks and datasets in place, which can be quickly scaled and leveraged in times of crisis. This was considered crucial to future proofing lessons learned.
The public survey remains open until 14 July 2025. You can complete the survey on the COVID-19 Evaluation website.
The stakeholder organisations in attendance were: Age Action Ireland, The Wheel, Irish Rural Link, Irish Men’s Sheds Association, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU), Pavee Point, National Parents Council, AONTAS, Mental Health Reform, Family Carers Ireland, and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) under the umbrella of The Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
This first roundtable focussed on broad societal impacts. Further public and private roundtable events, workshops and sessions with experts and/or stakeholders will take place over the course of the COVID-19 Evaluation’s work. These elements will delve into specific aspects aligned to the Evaluation’s Terms of Reference. They are likely to focus on areas such as economics or sectoral impacts; the health system; and decision-making processes during crises.