Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has declined to say when a Covid-19 inquiry may be established, saying the Taoiseach has indicated he wants it to be signed off "soon enough".
Mr Donnelly said the Department of the Taoiseach is currently working on terms of reference.
He said the inquiry should focus on how Ireland can be well prepared for the next pandemic and also how we can respond in a strong way.
The minister said he had been following proceedings at the UK's public inquiry and there may also be a focus here on text messages and "thumbs up emojis", but he said that Ireland had a lot to be proud of.
"As a nation, we responded well to Covid," Mr Donnelly said.
"Lancet found we had one of the lowest excess mortality rates in the world – ten times lower than that of the UK."
Mr Donnelly also said there has already been an exercise conducted by Professor Hugh Brady and a look back at issues with nursing homes with recommendations now in place.
He said a new independent emerging threats agency is in place and there is investment in advanced surveillance and the national ambulance service is scaling up.
On the HSE requirement for a supplementary estimate, Mr Donnelly said discussions were ongoing between the Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure.
He said the figure cited of €1.1 billion was arrived at "pre-October" and they would have to see how the remaining months of the year panned out.
