Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am being contacted regularly by people who worked in front-line jobs throughout the Covid pandemic but who have not been allocated, or told whether they will be allocated, the pandemic special recognition payment. Some are unsure whether their employer has applied for the payment. One person, who worked in a nursing home but no longer works there, suspects her former employer has received the payment but has not passed it on to anyone who is no longer employed there. Another is a cleaner in an ambulance station who is constantly being fobbed off by the employer and told to check her emails. Another worked in a residential unit for young people in care under the auspices of Tusla. She is not sure whether she is eligible and she cannot find out whether he employer has made an application. The scheme administrator engaged by the HSE engages only with employers, so there is no way for employees to find out whether they are eligible, whether they will get the payment or, indeed, whether their current or former employer has even made the application. Could a mechanism be put in place whereby employees could find out whether they are going to get the payment or whether an application has been made?

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