The special leave with pay scheme for healthcare workers with long Covid is going to end in two weeks' time unless the Taoiseach intervenes. This scheme is in place for a small group of healthcare workers - the majority being women - many of whom got badly infected while at work at the height of the Covid pandemic, when the rest of us were at home and long before PPE and vaccines. These workers got very sick with long Covid as a result and many are physically unable to return to work. Today, the health committee I chaired agreed to write to the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, to ask her to extend the scheme for six months to allow the Department of Social Protection to introduce an occupational injury scheme, as other EU countries have done. Will the Taoiseach support the committee's call or will he let these workers face a financial cliff edge on New Year's Eve, with huge consequences for them and their families, including the possibility of losing their homes? They need an intervention today and they need it from the Taoiseach to extend this scheme to give them financial certainty while this issue is resolved once and for all.

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