Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The last impression I want to give is that we are brushing this disease under the carpet. Long Covid is very real. I know a number of people who still have it. There has been a significant response to the reality of long Covid from the Department of Health with the opening of a number of clinics and the expansion of clinics across the country to help people deal with it and to find solutions to it.

This Department has a role for people unable to work due to illness. At the moment, that role fits in with our mainstream regular payments, initially illness benefit, which has a significant coverage period. Hopefully not but if it goes beyond that, the disability allowance payment would be relevant. There is a broader suite of payments available to people who cannot work because of illness and that is where we see our role in this challenge.

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