Dáil debates
Thursday, 7 December 2023
Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions
Covid-19 Pandemic
10:50 am
Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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93. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will review the decision not to include long Covid as an occupational illness; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53874/23]
Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I am persisting with the issue of recognition of long Covid and Covid as a prescribed illness. I fully accept that, under the terms of our occupation illness scheme, if this recognition is provided, it will lead to just a handful of claims, if any, coming forward. Its recognition will, however, have significant implications for medical assessments for illness benefit, invalidity pension and disability allowance, and the entitlement to disablement benefit.
Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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The Government acted early and without hesitation to support all workers who contracted Covid-19 during the pandemic. Workers 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 over €350 million.
A temporary scheme of paid leave was developed by the Department of Health for certain public health sector employees who were unfit for work after a Covid-19 infection. This scheme has been extended until 31 March 2024. Special leave with pay for Covid-19 was also introduced for public sector workers.
The European Commission has made a non-binding recommendation on the recognition of Covid-19 as an occupational disease. The Commission did not make a recommendation in relation to long Covid. The decision regarding recognition is for each individual member state. It is important to note that recognition of Covid-19 in Ireland would not encompass long Covid and would only apply to new claims for new cases of Covid-19. It would not benefit those who contracted Covid-19 during the pandemic.
A recent report, which we have published and laid before the Oireachtas, found that Covid-19 does not meet the criteria for recognition as an occupational illness under the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005. Specifically, presumptions about workplace transmission would not be sustainable on a general basis in the current environment when infection rates are low. The statutory criteria for occupational injuries benefit specify that the disease or injury was caused as a risk of the person’s occupation and is not a risk outside of that profession. Community transmission became dominant by the summer of 2020. Therefore, it has not been possible since then to establish with confidence a general assumption that the disease has been contracted through a person's occupation and not through community transmission.
The Department continues to provide a suite of income supports to those who cannot work due to illness and disability, including long Covid. I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The difficulty is there are quite a number of contradictions here. If we look to other EU countries, every other EU country has recognised Covid as an occupational illness except Ireland and Greece. The Department of Health and the HSE have recognised long Covid for anyone who was infected up to 15 November 2021, which is a full year and three months after the threshold the Minister of State has just spoken of. At the moment, there are 143 healthcare staff who have been in receipt of payments for in excess of 28 months, recognising long Covid as an illness within the health service. The difficulty for anyone in the health service who contracted Covid since 15 November 2021, and all other front-line healthcare workers, is that their long Covid illness is not being recognised. We are treating employees very differently depending on where they were doing their front-line work.
Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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I cannot comment on the Department of Health scheme that covers healthcare workers, as I do not know the ins and outs of it. However, we all agree that healthcare workers faced specific dangers and vulnerabilities that were different from those faced by many other workers who, we suspect, contracted Covid mainly through community transmission. Covid, as the World Health Organization has recognised, is now endemic. It is an illness similar in status to the flu, for example, in that it causes significant problems but we have a degree of control over it. It is important to say that.
Having discussed this with officials, the advice I have received is that Covid simply does not fit under the Social Welfare Act in terms of eligibility illnesses.
Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Figures provided to me by the Department show that up to last June, approximately 750 workers who contracted Covid and were out of work for over 12 months were in receipt of a social welfare payment. This does not include those who made a recovery from Covid and subsequently had a relapse of long Covid. We are only seeing the tip of the iceberg as regards this condition. This condition needs official recognition and needs to be defined as a prescribed illness.
If we continue to officially brush this illness under the carpet, then people will be denied the legitimate supports they need and we will not put in place an effective strategy to ensure as many of them as possible can return to work. That needs to be our priority.
11:00 am
Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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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.