Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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280. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons within her Department who received the special leave with pay for Covid-19 up to 1 July 2022; the number of workers who have availed of this payment for an extended period of 12 weeks or more; the number of persons who availed of the special leave with pay for COVID-19 since 1 July 2022; the number of such persons who have been in receipt of this payment in excess of 14 days; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45322/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Special leave with pay for COVID-19 is used in lieu of sick leave to assist in the prevention of the possible onward spread of COVID-19 in the workplace.

Circular 2/1976, which covers special leave with pay, should only apply in lieu of sick leave for COVID-19 when an employee is required to self-isolate and is displaying symptoms of COVID-19, and is either awaiting a test result or has had a positive PCR or antigen test, which has been registered on the HSE portal.

Special leave with pay only applies to employees who were rostered or due to be working and cannot be substituted for other forms of leave, for example annual leave.

The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the below table: