Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I raise the special leave with pay scheme for workers who are out sick with long Covid. Healthcare workers in particular have had long periods of illness from Covid, and a scheme was put in place in June 2022 to ensure they would get paid if they were out sick with long Covid.

That is due to end on 30 June. Therefore, from 1 July, potentially hundreds of health workers who stepped up to the plate, made sacrifices and put themselves out there for all of us in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic will be told their supports are being cut. Can the Taoiseach please explain why that is going to happen when we are still giving financial supports to businesses and companies with Covid payments that possibly should have been cut long ago? We are now going to cut the supports we give to workers with long Covid, remembering how much we valued and should continue to value the front-line workers who did what they did during the worst pandemic. How are we going to proceed with this? It is a matter of urgency, according to the unions, but we can see we are running out of time. This scheme is due to end on 30 June.

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