Dr Tony Holohan led Nphet during the Covid pandemic. Photo: David Conachy
The two top decision-makers in the Covid pandemic, former chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan and ex-HSE chief Paul Reid said yesterday they are ready to be questioned at the upcoming inquiry of how Ireland handled the global public health emergency.
But it will all likely happen behind closed doors and the public will have to wait for a final report in 12 to 18 months to receive an analysis of what the Government got right and got wrong.
Dr Holohan said: “I look forward to participating in the process the Government is putting in place to evaluate Ireland’s experience of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Mr Reid said: “I welcome the establishment of the Covid inquiry. I will be more than happy to attend if requested and to support its working in any way I can.”
Both men have now moved on, with Dr Holohan working in the HSE’s National Cancer Control Programme, as well as adjunct professor in both UCD and Trinity College.
Mr Reid most recently chaired the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use.
Dr Holohan chaired the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nepht), which exercised major control over recommendations around lockdowns, freedoms such as how far people could exercise outside their home, as well as the closure of schools and hospitality.
In his memoir, We Need To Talk, Dr Holohan criticised the Government’s decision to reopen hospitality in late 2020 for a “meaningful Christmas”.
He said: “There were more than 1,500 Covid deaths in January 2021. It was the single worst month for deaths over the entire course of the pandemic.
“This was at a time when we knew how to control the spread of the virus, but we failed to do so as a country.”
As the head of the HSE, Mr Reid was tasked with putting the response to the virus in to operation by rolling out the Covid vaccines, test and trace, as well as managing hospitals and other services that were curtailed.
A key element of managing the next pandemic will have to be ensuring more healthcare services remain in place.
The Government “evaluation” will be mostly or entirely held in private and will be chaired by Professor Anne Scott, with a multidisciplinary panel. It will have no powers of compellability.
The Department of the Taoiseach was unable to answer further questions about the operation of the evaluation yesterday.
