DUBLIN, Ireland: Ireland will begin an official inquiry into the country's response to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

Varadkar said the purpose of the inquiry is to understand what worked, and what did not, as Ireland closed down during quarantines, as well as evaluate the nation's health care system during the pandemic.

Varadkar noted that Ireland needs to understand the lessons learned so it could prepare for future public health emergencies.

The inquiry will begin in 2023, Varadkar said.

Prior to the inquiry, preparatory work by academics has been completed and is being reviewed by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly.

"But as with any inquiry they do tend to take time, and we also have to make sure we get the terms of reference right," Varadkar said, as quoted by breakingnews.ie.

The UK has begun a similar inquiry. However, it has come under public criticism.

"I can see across the water in the UK it's straying into all sorts of things, whereas in my view if we're going to do an inquiry on Covid, and we should, it should be to assess how the country responded to it, what we did right as a society and as a government and what we didn't get right," noted Varadkar, according to Reuters.