Covid-19 Working Paper Series

The Covid-19 pandemic presented a very significant public health and public policy challenge to our country, and indeed globally – accordingly, NESC undertook research to contribute to Ireland’s policy response. This work supplemented recently completed (at the time) research on economic transition that was relevant to Covid-19, dealing with employment vulnerability and building resilience in times of economic change. The purpose of our Covid-19 work was to provide timely, concise analysis for policy-makers and other stakeholders.

This section of our website provides some of the output of this work – for example, reviews of policy developments and related literature written as the pandemic progressed, and analyses of events and key policy areas in other countries. Also included are pieces on Ireland’s transition to recovery, enterprise/employee supports, behavioural change and insights, social policy responses, and sustainable recovery.

This research work, under normal circumstances, would have been used to produce NESC reports, which are published only after detailed deliberation by the Council. By putting it in the public domain earlier, our intention was to assist those who worked on Ireland’s response to Covid-19 with research and data they could draw on and put into practice immediately. It also continues to inform Ireland’s discussion of its recovery from the Covid-19 crisis.