John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank my colleague, the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, for appearing in the Chamber to take this Topical Issue matter. I begin with a quote: "He's been an outstanding doctor and the best dad we could have asked for." So said Dr. Samar Fatima Ali, daughter of Dr. Syed Waqqar Ali, in paying tribute to her father this evening. The Minister will be aware that Dr. Ali, who worked at Tallaght Hospital in my constituency and at the Mater Hospital, died today following a battle with Covid-19. Dr. Syed Waqqar Ali passed away after spending three months in ICU. It is clear that he put up an incredible battle and that he was attended in that struggle by very dedicated healthcare workers. It is hard to avoid clichés but it is a timely reminder of the deadliness of the virus. It is particularly poignant that a front-line healthcare worker, involved in trying to save other people's lives and give them hope, succumbed to it himself.

As the Mater Hospital stated earlier, Dr. Ali was a front-line healthcare worker who provided selfless emergency care to Covid-19 patients at a number of hospitals, including Tallaght Hospital in my constituency. It also stated he had been due to begin a shift at the Mater Hospital in April when he felt unwell.

That was at the height of the pandemic. He asked to be seen as a patient and was admitted immediately because he had contracted the Covid-19 illness.

His colleagues today remember him as a hard worker and diligent doctor with a humble and down-to-earth personality. However, the Irish Medical Organisation has also stated that this tragedy reminds us, as I mentioned, of the risk faced and sacrifices made by health professionals in the fight against Covid-19. I know the Minister is very familiar with the fact that approximately one in three cases of Covid-19 involves healthcare workers. In recent weeks, as the disease became less common in the community, the proportion of cases involving healthcare workers increased.

As the Minister knows, Dr. Ali is the eighth healthcare worker to die of Covid-19 in this State. Dr. Ali was a locum, although I do not know if any of the other healthcare workers who succumbed to the virus were playing a locum role. I understand from one of his colleagues that he was the father to five children. I do not claim to know anything about his financial position and I do not want to put forward any suggestions around it. However, in this pandemic when locums working in the public health service help to fight Covid-19 but fall victim to the virus, the State should consider providing some form of financial support for the bereaved families. He was working on the public health front line without the entitlements that full-time staff have with pensions and leave, for example. I ask that the Minister consider what could be done for the families left behind when locum doctors like Dr. Ali lose their lives to this awful disease.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I start by thanking Deputy Lahart for raising this matter. I join him in offering my sincere condolences to the family of Dr. Waqqar Ali, as well as the doctor's friends and colleagues, some of who were in touch with me today to share very kind words about their colleague and what an extraordinary man and dedicated doctor he was.

Along with Deputy Lahart I saw the interviews with the good doctor's children today on RTÉ and it was absolutely heartbreaking. We honour his work, and as Deputy Lahart has said, the work of all front-line workers. We recognise that eight front-line healthcare workers have died during this pandemic because of this awful and vicious disease.

Deputy Lahart raises an excellent question, which is whether a compensation scheme can be put in place for the families of front-line healthcare workers who lose their lives due to Covid-19. The short answer is "Yes it can". The previous Government kicked off the work and this Government will continue that work. I will be bringing a proposal to the Cabinet to that effect. The officials in my Department have been working hard on the scheme. I am not in a position to share the proposed details now, as I am sure the Deputy understands, as they must be discussed by the Government. I have looked at the detail today and much work has been done.

Critically, one of the questions we will rightly be asked is whether the scheme will apply retrospectively. There is really no point in us bringing forward a scheme at some distant point in future if it does not apply to the entire Covid-19 period. My full intention is that this will be the case. There may be details that are to be worked through and barriers that might need to be addressed in order to do that. As we both know, most schemes of this type do not tend to be retrospective. I will be making sure that all those barriers will be dealt with and this will be applied retrospectively with the agreement of the Government.

Many of our healthcare workers are protected by various life assurance schemes. As the Deputy points out, locums are not, and neither are many extraordinary workers in section 38 and section 39 organisations and certain other categories of workers across our system. It is my intention that this scheme will apply to everybody who is a front-line and hands-on worker, putting himself or herself at risk every day to keep the rest of us safe. Sometimes, tragically, as we have seen today, they pay the ultimate price for that.

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter today and I assure him and the House that we will be moving as quickly as possible on this. We will bring this scheme to the Government and I hope to have its agreement that the proposal will be applied retrospectively. It is the least we can do to stand with and support our quite extraordinary front-line workers.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I will not go on at length. I am very grateful for the Minister's response, which is very generous and compassionate on behalf of the Government and the State. He rightly referenced the awful nature of the exposure of front-line workers to the virus. Notwithstanding all the personal protective equipment, PPE, the virus is such an insidious thing that front-line workers are unable in some cases to escape it. In today's awful case, we can see that Dr. Ali succumbed to it after a considerable battle. I thank the Minister for his compassionate response and I expect nothing less from him. He has met the mark in that regard.

Of course, the Minister appreciates that the role of the locum is one of a doctor without roots. They move around different hospitals and in the context of the coronavirus, it exposes them even more. The upside of not putting down substantial roots in different places is there is an opportunity to have an impact on the lives of far more people, including the health personnel in different health settings.

As I said, I do not know the doctor's particular circumstances and I do not want to dwell on them. I know medical personnel who work in the field will be very gratified and delighted to hear of the compassionate and warm response of the Minister to this request. I thank him again.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Lahart for that. I think we have covered the issue but it is worth repeating that the scheme that will be brought in will be for all front-line workers. It includes section 38 organisations, section 39 organisations and nursing homes. Many people who are working in nursing homes do not have these protections. We will make sure that they have them.

The Deputy referenced the infection rates among healthcare workers of which we need to be very cognisant. I met three of the unions yesterday that represent front-line workers, namely, the Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation, INMO, the Psychiatric Nurses Association of Ireland, PNA, and SIPTU. I will meet more in the coming days. These issues came up at the meeting. An issue was raised about a very high level of Covid-19 infection rates among our healthcare workers. One of the first things I did when I was appointed was look into that to determine the issue. The figure we were given was the percentage of healthcare workers as a percentage of total cases in Ireland. It is very high, however, that is a function of testing. When we look at the infection rate among our healthcare workers as a percentage of all healthcare workers, it is significantly lower than international standards. While that is good news and reassuring to hear, we must strive to do much more.

I was talking with the HSE today about some of these issues. PPE is available. However, everything that can be done must be done to continue to improve the protection of our healthcare workers but also, as we have discussed, certain other categories of workers across the system in the sections 38 and 39 organisations and in the nursing homes. We will make sure that we continue to do everything we can to that end.