Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. As we all know, during the two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, the one group of people in the front line were nurses and healthcare staff in both the public and private healthcare sectors. The tax-free €1,000 that has been granted by the Government to these front-line workers is very welcome. It is not the money but the appreciation, the respect and the acknowledgement from the people of Ireland to nurses, healthcare providers and those who supported and cared for us during the pandemic, in particular those who cared for the many thousands of people who ended up in hospital very sick with Covid-19.

There were also those who helped to prevent many more people from getting sick and passing away.The €1,000 was a very good gesture but I am most disappointed in the haphazard way its payment has happened. I raised this matter today because I want a clear timeline as to when all the people who are being given the €1,000 will get it. What arrangements are in place to ensure they will get it? I am hearing that staff in hospitals around the country have not gotten it yet. I am hearing that nurses in nursing homes, carers and so on, people who are entitled to receive it, are still waiting for it and do not even know when they will get the payment. I sincerely hope that as a result of me raising this Commencement matter, we will get a clear and definite timeline for the payment of the €1,000.

Pippa Hackett (Green Party)
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I thank the Senator for raising this issue today. On 19 January, the Government announced a Covid-19 recognition payment for front-line public sector healthcare workers, to recognise the unique role they played during the pandemic. The payment will not be subject to income tax, USC or PRSI. The measure will be ring-fenced to staff who worked ordinarily on-site in Covid-19 exposed healthcare environments for at least four weeks within the period between 1 March 2020 and 30 June 2021. Among those staff, the payment amount is €1,000 for those whose work pattern is at least 60% whole-time equivalent, or €600 for those below that threshold. This payment is being made to those eligible public sector front-line healthcare staff, inclusive of agency staff working for the HSE, who worked in clinical settings. While not an exhaustive list, and subject to eligibility criteria, public sector employees will include doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants, porters, cleaners and other eligible staff who work in clinical settings.

The Department and the HSE have consulted extensively with health sector trade unions on this matter. The eligibility guidelines for this payment that apply in HSE and section 38 organisations were published online by the HSE on 19 April. Since then, local HSE sites and section 38 organisations have been assessing employees’ eligibility and arranging payments. All services are in the process of actioning the payment to those staff who have been deemed eligible to receive it. I have been assured that this is receiving priority attention across services. Figures for payments to HSE staff are reported centrally every week. Section 38 staff are excluded from these figures. The latest available figures show that by 27 May last, 12,831 payments had been processed, to a value of over €12 million. Separately, I can confirm that payments have been made to staff in Beaumont Hospital and the Rotunda.

The measure also extends to equivalent healthcare workers in certain other specific types of healthcare organisation. Arrangements for the sectors encompassed by this measure are currently being progressed by officials in the Department of Health. When it is available, officials will provide information for those other certain healthcare employees that are covered by the Government decision and the process available to their employers to implement this measure for their eligible staff. This will cover eligible staff in private sector nursing homes and hospices; eligible staff working on-site in section 39 long-term residential care facilities for people with disabilities; agency roles working in the HSE; healthcare support assistants, also known as home help, home care or home support contracted to the HSE; members of the Department of Defence redeployed to work in HSE Covid-19 exposed environments; and paramedics employed by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive reply. Everyone in the country acknowledges that the critical and vital role everyone in the hospitals, from nurses down to the porters, played on the front line during the healthcare emergency. This measure was announced in January. It is now 2 June. It seems it is a case of big wheels moving way too slowly. People are trying to plan holidays. They have already decided what they are going to do with this money. One healthcare worker asked me if they were ever going to get it. It is great that 12,000 people have received the payment but there are many tens of thousands still waiting. It should not take six months to pay 12,000 people and another six months to pay the rest. While the Minister of State said this matter is receiving priority attention, it needs even more of it.

Pippa Hackett (Green Party)
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I share the Senator's frustrations. I assure him that all those eligible will receive their payments, though I accept that it has not been very quickly delivered. Department of Health officials are working hard to roll this payment out as soon as possible and the Minister looks forward to this progressing very shortly.

Getting back to the original point about recognising that so many people put their lives at risk to support our nation and our citizens through the Covid pandemic, it is worth remembering that from February of next year a new permanent public holiday will be established to mark Imbolc, or St. Brigid's Day. This new bank holiday will serve as recognition and a permanent reminder to us of all those people's efforts and sacrifices during the last few difficult years.