Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. At the onset of the pandemic, the Government acted early and without hesitation to support all workers who contracted Covid-19. Workers outside the public sector could avail of an enhanced illness benefit payment and eligibility criteria were set to include the largest cohort of workers possible, including the self-employed.

The scheme paid some 578,000 claims at a cost of more than €350 million. The temporary scheme of paid leave for public health service employees was introduced in relation to employees in the health services who had not recovered from a Covid-19 infection. This temporary scheme is a matter for the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and has been extended by that Minister a number of times, most recently to June 2025. My Department continues to provide a suite of income supports to those who cannot work due to illness or disability. These supports are available to people with Covid-19 and long Covid. Eligibility for these payments is generally not dependent on the type of illness or disability but on the extent to which a particular illness or disability impairs or restricts a person’s capacity to work. Illness benefit is the primary income support provided by my Department to those who cannot work in the short term due to illness of any kind. Eligibility for illness benefit depends on the person’s PRSI record and class and only contributions made under classes A, E, H or P count toward this payment.

The two main long-term disability income support payments provided by my Department are invalidity pension and disability allowance. Invalidity pension is a social insurance weekly payment paid from the Social Insurance Fund. Eligibility is based on PRSI contributions and medical condition. Disability allowance is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. People who are ill but do not qualify for other illness or disability schemes may apply for means-tested supports through the supplementary welfare allowance scheme to help to meet essential expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. This includes certain supplements to assist with ongoing or recurring costs that cannot be met from a person’s own resources.

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