Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

My last question is on the allocations made for Covid. With only three weeks remaining in this year I appeal to the Minister to personally intervene in the issue of the proposed closure of the only existing long Covid clinic that has dealt with 1,500 patients, which is a vast number, in the Mater hospital. In 2021, a business case for the clinic was submitted to the HSE but there was no response. In July 2022, a further business case was submitted but yet again there was no response. The Mater clinic has the expertise and produced numerous research papers over the last two years. I make a very strong appeal for the Minister to intervene because, on a national basis, the Mater clinic has the expertise, particularly in terms of the neuro impacts of long Covid which are the most dominant ones. I also ask him to intervene as a representative of the northside of Dublin because I do not want to see people on the northside of Dublin being deprived of a long Covid clinic on which they are very dependent.

I have looked at what the Minister has done with other proposals. The clinics are not functioning. There is one neurologist shared between six clinics. There is a waiting list of eight months to see somebody in one of the other clinics and the clinics are grossly understaffed. There is no recognition of the neuro impacts of the long Covid, which are the most debilitating and most long lasting. There has been no response from the Minister's office to Jack Lambert. I ask him to give a commitment that this week he will get a briefing on the business case and review the decision that was made not to continue with the clinic.