Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being late. I also sit on the transport committee, and it had an engagement this morning. I followed some of this debate, but not all of it. I apologise if I ask questions that have been asked. Like others, I know of some people with long Covid. One is a man in my local community who is involved in GAA coaching and plays golf the whole time. He came to one of my clinics approximately a fortnight ago in advance of today's meeting. We had to preplan how he would get into the office and there was a rigamarole. He was bringing oxygen with him. It was a pitiful sight for someone who, two years ago, was in peak health. It is real, and many nurses and allied health professionals reached out to us before today's meeting. We need to get our heads around the symptoms and understand them. However, what is most frustrating - "devastating" is maybe a better word - is that they do not all feel fully believed by their employers. Some of the witnesses are from the HSE and we have been speaking about clinics and follow-up care, but in the first instance their colleagues in the HR column of the HSE organisation are still not taking this seriously. When Covid hit this country and the world with a bang, we were all told to stay home, but people who worked in the health services were told to get out and fall in on the front line. They had no choice and now they have no excuse. They are where they are because they gave incredible service to our health system during those bleak and dark days. This may have been answered earlier. I believe there are 130 health staff still on leave as a result of Covid. Is that the case?