Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to comment too much about the agreement that was reached between the Department and the unions. There is a three-month rollover backdated to 1 April, which is good. However, rollover after rollover will eventually run out. Dialogue needs to happen. Some people have, as Dr. Jeffrey stated, had long Covid for three and a half or four years. It is important that we start to use other terms like invalidity and disability. If we are down to a cohort of 120 people in the health services alone, we will have to grasp that nettle soon and say that they may not be coming back to work. Those kinds of terms need to start being used as they are quickly running out of rollover time. PRSI stamp contributions will also run out. A level of dialogue with the Department of Social Protection is now needed beyond the three-month rollover period about where we can get these people in the long term.