Covid-19: Five Years On – A Look Back at NESC’s Policy Lessons from the Pandemic

• 11 March 2025
• Types: News

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the declaration by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak was a global pandemic – 11^th March 2020.

Two years after that declaration, in 2022, the National Economic and Social Council published its report The Covid-19 Pandemic: Lessons for Irish Public Policy.

This piece of NESC research reviewed international experience of emergencies and the Covid-19 pandemic, looked at examples of Ireland’s response to the pandemic, and identified five key lessons for Irish public policy – all of which remain relevant today:

1. Vulnerability is complex and context-specific, meaning pinpointing and managing vulnerability are crucial;
2. Stakeholder networks and experts shape outcomes, so the policy system must stay deeply engaged;
3. Real-time evidence, when used alongside longer-run data, has the power to transform policymaking, suggesting that the analytical activity which aided in the pandemic response can be applied in other areas of public policy;
4. Adapting the policy world to the data world requires significant effort, meaning that governance, privacy, access, confidentiality, and data-sharing issues must be prioritised and addressed with urgency; and
5. Communication and trust are critical for responding to crises. Policymakers must improve their capacity to reach out, listen actively, and communicate clearly. They must also work to ensure their decisions deliver, and are seen to deliver, for society.

“When we published our analysis in 2022, we said that the lessons from the pandemic could help shape Ireland’s response to crises in other areas, such as climate change and biodiversity loss, housing, in response to the terrible events in Ukraine, and in dealing with the cost-of-living crisis,” stated Dr Cathal FitzGerald, Senior Analyst at NESC, who led the research. “Five years on from the pandemic, those lessons hold true today.”

“Take just one example, the recent Storm Éowyn. Although on a completely different scale of impact, that storm showed again how vital it is to pinpoint vulnerability and built-in resilience in advance, with reference to local knowledge and real-time data, and with greater capacity to respond,” he said. “NESC’s look back at how Ireland responded to Covid-19 produced policy lessons which can improve our preparedness for both known and unforeseen challenging developments, regardless of whether they emerge quickly, like destructive storms, or are ongoing, such as climate change, energy transition, or economic turbulence,” Dr FitzGerald concluded.

 

The full NESC report can be found here.

 

The detailed policy lessons can be found here.