The special payment scheme for healthcare workers with long Covid will be extended until the end of the year, following a recommendation by the Labour Court.
On Thursday, the court recommended a final extension of the current scheme up to December 31st, 2025.
The scheme was due to conclude next Monday, June 30th, but the Department of Health has now accepted the Labour Court’s recommendation.
A spokeswoman for the Department said that Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill “fully supports the decision and will now move to ensure the scheme is extended as per the Labour Court recommendation”.
Reflections on the collective mental health trauma of Covid-19
Covid-19 pandemic review’s puzzling finding of no excess deaths in Ireland has a simple explanation
Five years after Covid, we scorn health workers, ignore vaccines and work in our offices
My battle with Long Covid: I was in disbelief. Was I making it up? How could I not stand up while the kettle boiled?
Earlier on Thursday, the Minister said the scheme would finish at the end of this month.
The scheme provides financial support to healthcare employees who cannot work due to the effects of long Covid.
From the start of 2026, anyone still in receipt of the scheme should transition to the Public Service Sick Leave Scheme, the court said.
Speaking in the Dáil, Ms Carroll MacNeill said a temporary scheme was put in place in 2022 for healthcare workers who “went beyond the call of duty, working in frontline environments”.
She said the scheme had been extended four times, most recently at the end of June 2024.
The Minister said she understood that about 159 employees “are currently on the special scheme, the majority of whom have been supported on full pay for almost five years”.
But, she added: “I understand the Department of Public Expenditure has been clear, and was clear at the time, that this is the final extension that would be granted. As such, the special scheme will conclude on June 30th, 2025.”
However, following the Labour Court’s recommendation on Thursday afternoon, the Government decided to extend the scheme once again.
Albert Murphy, chairman of the Ictu group of healthcare unions and INMO director of industrial relations, on Thursday said unions were calling on the Government to classify Covid or long Covid as an occupational illness or injury, in line with other EU countries.
“This would remove a barrier identified by the Labour Court to resolving the issue for the small group of healthcare workers who remain affected by long Covid,” Mr Murphy said.
In its recommendation, the Labour Court said: “At this point in time, Covid-19 and long-Covid are not considered occupational illnesses or an injury at work in this jurisdiction” and it is “not within its gift to determine otherwise”.
Long Covid occurs when people who were infected with Covid-19 continue to display symptoms long after the infection is gone.
Symptoms vary but can include fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain, problems with memory and insomnia.
