Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise with the Taoiseach the very serious issue of long Covid, which I fear will be a pressing issue for our health service and our society in the coming years. Figures suggest that, worldwide, well over 10% of people who get Covid suffer some form of long Covid, and that a minority of them suffer a very severe form of long Covid that can continue for many months and even potentially years, with quite severe symptoms. I met a man, for example, in campaigning to save the Tallaght long Covid clinic, which was thankfully saved, called Pete Brennan, who was suffering from very severe fatigue, memory loss and shortness of breath. It was having a massive impact on his life. There are many other people similarly affected. We are going to need to invest in long Covid clinics throughout the country.

A month ago, I asked the Minister for Health through a parliamentary question how many people in Ireland have long Covid. The question was referred to the HSE which answered that it does not currently hold information centrally on the numbers of patients affected by long Covid. I found it quite astounding. We cannot manage what we do not measure. If we do not know how many people have long Covid, how does the State know where to put the resources, how much resources to put in and so on? It does not make any sense. Does the Taoiseach agree that we need to start collecting those data centrally?

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