Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The special leave with pay scheme was an exceptional intervention, which was warranted back in March 2020 because of the need to ensure people who contracted Covid did not have to go to work and would be paid accordingly. It was never designed as an instrument in itself to deal with long Covid, which was not even recognised at the time as being in existence. We have the standard public service sick leave scheme and, as I have acknowledged, there is also the critical illness cover. There are examples of public service workers, particularly in healthcare, who contracted Covid and may still be out of work because of it. That is why I have acknowledged that the Department of Health is examining that specific issue and is engaging with my Department on it. I expect that the Department of Health will finalise a proposal in that regard shortly. We stand ready to examine that and assist in any way we can, while recognising that this probably impacts on quite a small number of people.

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