Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would still ask the Minister to go back to Cabinet and highlight the issue. I know that the Covid recognition payment is a matter for the Minister for Health, but there is an opportunity for the Department of Social Protection to look at the cost of living in terms of the 500,000 people who have probably contributed the most during the pandemic, and to give them the Covid payment. The past two years were tough for many. I wholeheartedly welcome the bonus of €1,000 for front-line healthcare workers, including ambulance workers and others. I understand that many other groups of workers also had reasonable requests for some recognition of their contribution. However, carers' shifts never end and they had no respite during the pandemic. They often did not have the time to do homeschooling either. They really were the ones that were there, and they did not get a break at all. We all know the carers in our communities, as I am sure the Minister does. I ask the Minister to go back to Cabinet and fight for carers at this particular time. There are carers living in rural areas who have to pay for fuel for going to hospital appointments and so on, and for energy to heat their homes. The Minister knows of the extra costs involved. This payment could be given to them as a once-off payment in recognition of their work.

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