COVID-19 Evaluation Panel roundtable with a number of Government Departments
On Thursday 28th May, the independent COVID-19 Evaluation Panel hosted discussions with a cross section of senior officials from a number of Government Departments, aligned to numerous priority areas of focus for the Evaluation.
The purpose of this roundtable session was to gain further insights and understanding into a range of decisions, processes and approaches during the COVID-19 pandemic. The roundtable explored Ireland’s multifaceted pandemic response, including preparedness and actions, and lessons learned.
It largely focused on five key areas which included:
1: Structures, Governance and Overarching decision-making
- Response structures
- Extent of legal force of restrictions & human rights
- Core decisions
2: Health and Social care
- Health system influence on response
- Long-term residential care facilities
- Public Health preparedness: pre-pandemic and looking ahead
3: Education & Welfare
- School closures, delayed reopening and restrictions in schools
- Impacts on vulnerable school children and mitigations
4: Inclusion & Inequality
- Congregated settings
- Impacts on marginalised groups and supports / services
- Effects on poverty and inequality
5: Economic & Financial
- Economic and labour market outlook (at the onset of the pandemic)
- Labour market Impacts and supports
- Fiscal cost and future crisis capacity
The roundtable was in a questions and answers format with wide-ranging discussions across particular aspects of the management of the pandemic, including response and mitigation supports, from a number of Departments perspectives. The discussion gave insights into the level and complexity of considerations, extensive collaboration and engagement, comprehensive communication and feedback loops.
The Evaluation Panel members in attendance were:
• Prof Anne Scott
• Dr David Heymann
• Dr. Nora Strekcer
• Dr Nat O’Connor
• Prof Sara Burke
Senior Officials that were invited spanned a number of Departments, reflecting the particular areas of focus for the roundtable:
- Department of Children, Disability and Equality
- Department of Defence
- Department of Education & Youth
- Department of Finance
- Department of Health
- Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation
- Department of Social Protection
- Department of the Taoiseach
Priority topics and related invited Department for this session were arrived at by the Panel upon reflecting on the Evaluation’s wide-ranging programme of work. It sought to balance breadth and a focus on pertinent areas, in the context of the vast scale of pandemic work across all Departments and agencies and associated levels of information already provided to the Evaluation.
The roundtable forms an input into the Evaluation’s wider focus on exploring what worked, what didn’t work, gaps, and lessons learned in Ireland’s pandemic response.
To that end, the Evaluation has sought and received a large volume of materials from Government Departments and agencies. Detailed requested formal written submissions have been provided by 18 Departments and the HSE. In aggregate, this amounts to over five hundred documents running to approximately 4,850 pages of detailed content. Following assessment of this information, numerous requests for further specific information has been sought and received, including Government Memorandums.
In addition to the findings from the Evaluations own public consultations and research, these materials provided an informed basis for the targeted roundtable discussions, allowing the Evaluation Panel members to seek further insights into particular areas, building on detailed written information already received.
In parallel, the Evaluation has had information sessions with a number of officials covering areas such as emergency planning and Government decision-making processes. Additionally panel members have held sessions with individuals who worked with Government on different aspects of the pandemic response, such as the vaccination rollout and behavioural work; as well as drawing on expertise from across research bodies such as NESC, and academic and research institutions.
Panel members have also met with numerous public and independent bodies such as the CSO, HEA, HIQA, the Ombudsman for Children, the Irish Human Rights Equality Commission, the Policing and Community Safety Authority and Chair of the Commission on Care for Older People. This is of course in addition to wider engagement meetings and events with independent experts and stakeholder groups across the areas of economics, health, education, social and human rights.
In the coming weeks, the Independent COVID-19 Evaluation panel will be holding meetings with other key officials and decision makers, in order to further develop its understanding and assessment of Ireland’s pandemic response, with a focus on priority areas.