Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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642. To ask the Minister for Health when the pandemic bonus payment for frontline workers will be rolled out to all eligible workers in the State, including those in private nursing homes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49581/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Firstly, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all healthcare workers for their efforts during this most challenging period.

The rollout of the Pandemic Recognition Payment for eligible HSE and Section 38 employees is currently receiving priority. As of Friday 30th of September, 85,463 eligible HSE staff have received payment around the country. This number excludes Section 38 agencies which are estimated to have paid 38,287 staff to date thereby bringing the total number of employees paid to 123,750 .

The HSE and the Department are currently examining progressing the rollout to the list of 6 non-HSE/non-Section 38 organisation types covered by the Government Decision. This measure will be ring fenced to staff working ordinarily onsite in COVID-19 exposed healthcare environments.

It is hoped that information will be published shortly for those certain non-HSE/Section 38 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 shall cover eligible staff in:

- Private Sector Nursing Homes and Hospices (e.g. Private, Voluntary, Section 39 etc.);

- Eligible staff working on-site in Section 39 long-term residential care facilities for people with disabilities;

- Agency roles working in the HSE;

- Health Care Support Assistants (also known as home help / home care / home support) contracted to the HSE;

- Members of the Defence Forces redeployed to work in frontline Covid-19 exposed environments in the HSE;

- Paramedics employed by Dublin Fire Brigade to deliver services on behalf of the HSE.

The above 6 areas only are covered by this Government Decision and all eligible workers will be paid in accordance with the overarching eligibility criteria in place.At this point, the Department is not in a position to assess or comment on individual cases.

Rolling out the payment to eligible employees of those specific non-HSE/Section 38 organisations covered by the government decision is a complex task, particularly as these employees are not normally paid by the public health service, duplicate payments need to be avoided, and there are many organisations to be covered, but this work is being given priority attention.