Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. He has been consistently raising it in the House. I agree entirely that workers across the economy, and without question our public servants and front-line healthcare workers, have made an extraordinary contribution to helping society deal with an unprecedented pandemic which has turned upside down all of our lives. Without front-line healthcare workers we would have been in extreme difficulty in meeting and dealing with the challenge of the pandemic. The sense of community and solidarity in this country as we continue to fight Covid is truly remarkable. We must continue in that way. Front-line workers in particular put their lives at risk. Many were infected with Covid and, as we know, some staff lost their lives. Others are suffering from long-Covid. This reminds us of the need to be ever-vigilant in terms of keeping numbers down. We all recall last January and February and the extraordinary pressures on our front-line healthcare workers because of the dramatic rise in Covid cases and hospitalisations. On top of that - this has to be acknowledged - the HSE took a body blow from the cyberattack which just as we were emerging from that wave of Covid placed significant pressures on staff at all levels within our health services.

The Government understands and recognises the issue. Across Departments civil servants have been under a lot of pressure and they may have made many personal sacrifices over the past 16 months and continue to do so. The pandemic remains a constant challenge to us all and still requires our full focus and attention. We are not out of the woods yet. We have a journey to go, but we are getting there. Government is committed to recognising the sacrifices that public sector workers made. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, has been assessing the situation in terms of the European experience and the balance as outlined by Deputy Kelly in terms of monetary award and annual leave. How we recognise the efforts made by workers, in particular front-line healthcare workers, during this pandemic is being actively considered. As stated by the Deputy a claim on behalf of all public health service workers is before the WRC. We will give that active consideration, as the way to do this. I take on board the points made by the Deputy.

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