Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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427. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the budgetary analysis being carried out to plan for long Covid impacts in his Department and each State agency under the remit of his Department, in tabular form. [4482/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The extent and potential additional financial cost of ‘long COVID-19’ on this Department cannot be determined at this point. As an immediate priority, my Department is participating in various cross-Departmental groups to ensure that appropriate supports are available to personnel as required. My Department will continue to monitor the impact of ‘long COVID-19’ including any potential additional budgetary costs arising.

There are a range of measures in place across the Civil and Public Service to provide support to those who contract COVID-19 and these are published as part of the Guidance on working arrangements during COVID-19 for the Civil and Public Service and are available on the website of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

The response across the Defence Organisation to the COVID-19 pandemic incurred additional costs of €15.4 million, on the Defence Vote, in 2020. These additional costs arose mainly from providing personnel and operational supports to the Health Service Executive and included transport, communication (ICT) and logistic costs.