Special Committee on Covid-19 Response

The Special Committee on Covid-19 Response was established on 6th May 2020 to consider and take evidence on the State’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Michael McNamara was elected Chair of the Committee at its first sitting in Dáil Éireann. Michael defeated Sinn Féin T.D. David Cullinane in a vote to become Chair.

Michael McNamara elected as Committee Chair on 6 May 2020.

The Committee’s terms of reference are laid out in the Dáil Supplementary Order Paper of Wednesday, 6 May 2020.

The Committee published its final report and laid it before the Houses of the Oireachtas on 8 October 2020. The work of the Committee is now complete.

The Committee membership comprised of the following:

Deputies

Colm Brophy
Fine Gael

Colm Burke
Fine Gael

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill
Fine Gael

Matt Carthy
Sinn Féin

Michael Collins
Independent

David Cullinane
Sinn Féin

Cormac Devlin
Fianna Fáil

Pearse Doherty
Sinn Féin

Neasa Hourigan
Green Party

Paul McAuliffe
Fianna Fáil

Michael McNamara – Chair
Independent

Jennifer Murnane O’Connor
Fianna Fáil

Fergus O’Dowd
Fine Gael

Louise O’Reilly
Sinn Féin

Pádraig O’Sullivan
Fianna Fáil

Matt Shanahan
Independent

Róisín Shortall
Social Democrats

Bríd Smith
Solidarity – People Before Profit

Duncan Smith
Labour Party

Four other Committee members relinquished their membership on the occasion of the formation of a new Government on 5th June 2020. The Deputies were:

Mary Butler
Period: 2020-05-06 – 2020-09-04
Party: Fianna Fáil

Stephen Donnelly
Period: 2020-05-06 – 2020-09-04
Party: Fianna Fáil

Norma Foley
Period: 2020-05-06 – 2020-09-04
Party: Fianna Fáil

John McGuinness
Period: 2020-05-06 – 2020-09-04
Party: Fianna Fáil

Ossian Smyth
Period: 2020-05-06 – 2020-09-07
Party: Green Party

View videos from the Covid Committee here.

View Media Coverage of the Committee and the work of its members here.

Further details on the Committee via the Oireachtas website.