Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister of State can see, the State has already recognised that healthcare workers were at higher risk through the creation of the temporary 12-month scheme and that therefore they must be treated in a certain way.

I am sure the Minister of State is aware that when people are put on standard sick pay, it essentially means they are on a pathway to medical retirement. We are talking about people who are in their 30s, 40s and 50s. Not only do they have financial burdens such as kids in school and all the rest of it, but they are also very young to be put on medical retirement. It might be that we could manage the process in a better way.

I am pleased to hear the Department of Social Protection is doing a review. I will follow up on that. I hope the Departments of Social Protection and Health are engaging with the unions on this issue because I am aware that in certain community healthcare organisations, occupational health departments are putting pressure on workers to trial a return on reduced hours and then they move off the 12-month scheme. The scheme is about to run out. While we are dilly-dallying over whether it is an occupational injury, those people are experiencing great insecurity about what the future looks like for them. It is not fair to people who have given their all in supporting us and minding us.

There are two further points that the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, could pass on to the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. The first is that there seems to be a disconnect in terms of recognising long Covid. We could communicate very quickly with GPs by means of a one-page circular outlining the symptoms of long Covid and what it looks like. We know it is difficult to diagnose. It is a nebulous series of symptoms, but it is a very real thing. We could support GPs to be able to recognise it sooner and give people the security that their illness is being taken seriously. Second, we could do a number of things to provide support, such as making melatonin available without a prescription. That is the case in many European countries but not in Ireland.

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