COVID-19 Evaluation Progress Update & Current Work Phase

This month, the Chair of the Independent COVID-19 Evaluation provided a written Progress Update to the Taoiseach, which was noted by Government, outlining the progress of the Evaluation to date.

The full progress update is available.

Since its establishment in 2025, the Independent COVID-19 Evaluation has engaged in a considerable programme of work focused on gathering data, information and records, understanding wide-ranging personal experiences via consultations, and gaining extensive perspectives including though engagement with stakeholder organisations and national and international experts.

In line with the Terms of reference, the Evaluation’s work has been carried out in a phased way, and will culminate in a final report, with an emphasis on lessons learned, which will be provided by the end of 2026.

The final report will harness formal documentation and inputs including relevant national and international research and reports; and wide-ranging consultations and lived experiences; to assess the pandemic response and related impacts and outcomes, with a view to identifying learnings to help strengthen future decision-making.

This update reflects key components of the Evaluations work to date, in order to give a clear sense of the stage and direction of work. Further background information on the Evaluation work, and future updates, can be found in the ‘News and Updates’ section of the website.

The progress update outlined core aspects of the work of the Evaluation such as;

• Three separate public consultations culminating in a large volume of responses. These consultations were;
  • General Public Consultation (Summer 2025)Consultation for Children and Young People (Autumn 2025)
  • Consultation on the response in Long Term Residential Care Facilities (February & March 2026). This was supplemented by private listening sessions conducted in May, and a separate insights workshop with experts.

• Three roundtable forums hearing from stakeholders and experts.
  • Societal stakeholder roundtable (June 2025)
• • Economic/sectoral stakeholder and expert roundtables (November 2025)
  • Health focused roundtable (March 2026)

• Engagement with Government departments including;
  • Analysing submissions from all Government departments.
  • Roundtable with senior officials from select departments to gain further insights on pandemic management (May 2026)

• Wider engagement and research with numerous stakeholders and experts.

Read our progress update to get more information on the work carried out to date.

Meetings with key decision makers

Building on its wide-ranging engagement over the last year with national and international independent experts and researchers, and stakeholder organisations, the Evaluation is now at a further phase in its work. This phase is one of direct engagement and discussions with key officials and decision-makers regarding Ireland’s COVID-19 pandemic response.

As part of this, the Evaluation Panel this week met with Taoiseach Micheál Martin (Monday 22^nd June) and Tánaiste Simon Harris (Thursday 25^th June).

These in-depth bilateral meetings followed a question-and-answer discusssion format. The meeting with the Taoiseach focused on the Governments response to the pandemic from the period of June 2020 –February 2022, a time in which the Taoiseach was in office that also falls within the Evaluation’s terms of reference. Tánaiste Simon Harris’ meeting with the Evaluation was in the context of his role as Minister for Health from the beginning of the pandemic until June 2020. Both discussions also encompassed reflections for future events of this scale.

Following this engagement with the Taoiseach and Tánaiste, Prof Anne Scott said ‘These meetings were hugely valuable engagements which assist the panel to further understand the complexities of decision-making during the pandemic. These meetings follow extensive engagement with senior officials and detailed submissions from all Government departments, along with numerous wider engagements with experts and stakeholders. We would like to thank the Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris for their helpful insights which will provide a valuable input to our assessment of Ireland’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.’

Further meetings with key decision makers from the pandemic period are planned over the coming weeks and months. Information gained from these meetings will help shape inputs into the Evaluation’s final report.