Ms Phil Ní Sheaghdha:

I thank Deputy Shortall. She is correct that the Irish Congress of Trade Unions had requested of the previous Minister, Deputy Humphreys, that the definition of personal injury in regulation 224 would be amended to include an occupational infection of this kind. We also wrote separately on behalf of our members and, as I understand it, a meeting is scheduled for this week with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the current Minister, who is the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, to deal with the issue. To date, the response has not included confirmation that the regulation will be amended, which is what is needed.

We also know that in the European Parliament, the definition in the biohazard directive now includes Covid-19 as an occupationally-acquired injury in category 3. As my colleague, Ms Siobhán Murphy, will be able to tell the committee, when one works on wards for 12-hour shifts, one knows all about it when one becomes infected. The long-term effect of this is quite severe. Ms Murphy has now entered her 12th week of being absent from work due to the after-effects of being infected. That cannot be described in any other way except as an occupationally-acquired illness.