Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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530. To ask the Minister for Health the reason carers in private nursing homes were never paid the promised €1,000 bonus, considering that it was to be paid by July 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56259/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Government announced a COVID-19 pandemic recognition payment for certain frontline public sector healthcare workers, to recognise their unique role during the pandemic. Certain non-HSE/Section 38 healthcare employees are also covered by the Government Decision, and the HSE and KOSI Corp are currently progressing the rollout to eligible staff in the cohorts below:

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

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

3. Agency roles working in the HSE;

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

Rolling out the payment to these eligible employees 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.

Information on the process involved has now been provided by the HSE and KOSI Corp to relevant organisations. I am pleased to confirm to the Deputy that payments to employers of eligible staff are rolling out, including to private nursing homes, with funding transfers underway since last week, and these employers will then pass on the payments to their eligible staff.

I have instructed officials to ensure an efficient and expeditious rollout to all remaining staff. Once again, I would like to thank all healthcare workers for their extraordinary efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.