A group of approximately 120 healthcare workers face the termination of their basic pay on 31 December. They have been receiving their basic pay in recognition of the fact that they contracted Covid at the peak of the pandemic in high-risk settings such as hospital wards and have paid an enormous price in the form of ongoing long Covid symptoms, including debilitating post-exertional malaise. While we will be looking forward to rest and leisure over the Christmas period, these healthcare workers face the loss of their financial security, not being able to pay their mortgages after using up their standard sick leave, and ultimately having to retire prematurely on medical grounds. A group of these workers met the Taoiseach in Cork in June and felt he gave them a lot of time, showed genuine empathy and concern for their situation and, crucially, validated the seriousness of their symptoms and the fact that they had contracted Covid in the workplace. However, Ireland, with Greece, remains an outlier in Europe in not recognising long Covid as an occupational injury for the cohort in question. Can we extend the pay arrangement for six months while occupational injury status is properly explored?

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