David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister will accept that it is unacceptable that many of those healthcare workers will have to wait until after Christmas to receive a payment that was due in October. Many workers in nursing homes and elsewhere have also not received their pandemic bonus payment, albeit they are not public sector workers.

This speaks to the issue of the need for an integrated financial management system and an integrated IT system so that we do not have these complicated systems that do not allow us to move quickly. Most workers would have had an expectation when they heard there is a new pay agreement due in October and other Departments have been able to pay this. It is once again in the heath sector where staff are waiting and some will have to wait until after Christmas. It is unacceptable. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has been lobbying all of us on this because it represents its members and it wants them to get the payments due to them.

We are coming up to Christmas. That half of them have not received their payments and will have to wait until the new year, even if the payment is retrospective, is not the way to treat those who work in our healthcare system.

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