Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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309. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection in light of the review report in Nature Medicine in August 2024 (details supplied), if she will review the wrap around services within her Department to be made available to persons with long Covid; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38842/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department continues to provide a suite of income supports to those who cannot work due to illness or disability. These supports are available to people with COVID-19 and long COVID. Eligibility for these payments is generally not dependent on the type of illness or disability but on the extent to which a particular illness or disability impairs or restricts a person’s capacity to work.

Illness benefit is the primary income support provided by my Department to those who cannot work in the short term due to illness of any kind. Eligibility for illness benefit depends on the person’s PRSI record and class and only contributions made under classes A, E, H or P count toward this payment.

The two main long-term disability income support payments provided by my Department are invalidity pension and disability allowance. Invalidity pension is a social insurance weekly payment where eligibility is based on PRSI contributions and medical condition. Disability allowance is a weekly means-tested allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66.

People who are ill but do not qualify for other illness or disability schemes may apply for means tested supports through the supplementary welfare allowance scheme to help meet essential expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. This includes certain supplements to assist with ongoing or recurring costs that cannot be met from a person’s own resources and are deemed to be necessary.

As people begin their recovery from long COVID, they may wish, initially, to return to work on a limited basis. If a person has been getting illness benefit for a minimum of six months or invalidity pension and wishes to return to work, they may qualify for partial capacity benefit if their capacity for work is reduced by their medical condition.

My Department is committed to ensuring that members of the public are aware of the welfare supports and services that are available to them and that they are notified of any scheme changes, which may affect them. Public information campaigns are targeted carefully, using the best mix of media formats, to ensure that my Department’s messages reach members of the public effectively. The information provided online is augmented by face-to-face engagement and signposting of entitlements in Intreo and Branch Offices. Also, staff of my Department answered over 4 million phone calls in 2023 giving information and answering queries from the public.

The medical matters in the review report referred to by the Deputy are the responsibility of the Minister for Health.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.