The government must extend the payment scheme for healthcare workers suffering from long Covid before it lapses on New Years Eve, according to Social Democrats health spokesperson P\u00e1draig Rice.<\/p>\n
Deputy Rice, who chairs the Oireachtas Health Committee, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe special leave with pay scheme for healthcare workers with long COVID is going to end in two weeks’ time unless the government acts now.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe small group of workers which is served by the scheme are mainly women who contracted covid during the peak of the pandemic working in healthcare settings while the rest of us were at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese workers developed long covid as a result – and are continuing to suffer from many debilitating symptoms and are physically unable to return to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, the Health Committee, which I chair, wrote to the Minister for Health to extend this crucial scheme for six months. During this time, COVID should be recognised as an occupational injury \u2013 as almost every other EU country has done.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I raised this issue with the Taoiseach today, he said a sustainable solution to this issue must be found. I agree but in the meantime the existing scheme must be extended to allow time for a permanent occupational injury scheme to be designed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs it stands, these workers are facing an anxious and uncertain Christmas unsure of whether they will have sufficient resources to pay the mortgage and their other bills in January.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be unconscionable for the State to abandon these workers given their bravery and sacrifice. The government must extend this scheme and ensure these healthcare workers do not face a financial cliff edge on New Years Eve, which could put their homes at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
December 17th, 2025<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The government must extend the payment scheme for healthcare workers suffering from long Covid before it lapses on New Years Eve, according to Social Democrats health spokesperson P\u00e1draig Rice. Deputy Rice, who chairs the Oireachtas Health Committee, said: \u201cThe special leave with pay scheme for healthcare workers with long COVID is going to end in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11561,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,642,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-padraig-rice","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n