Iarraim ar gach duine na srianta ama a chomhlíonadh.

Cé go gcuirfidh siad siúd atá i dteideal an bónas €1,000 fáilte roimhe, níl go leor soiléiriú ann faoi cé go díreach atá i dteideal an bónas seo a fháil. Mar shampla, caidé faoi na glantóirí sna hospidéil agus iad sin nach bhfuil fostaithe go díreach ag Feidhmeannacht na Seirbhíse Sláinte? An dtig leis an Tánaiste soiléiriú a thabhairt faoi sin?

An grúpa ba mhó gur mhaith liom ardú ar maidin ná na cúramóirí baile. Le dhá bhliain anuas d’oibrigh siad go dian dícheallach gan stad agus níl na cúramóirí seo in ann leas ar bith a bhaint as saoire phoiblí eile. Bíonn a gcuid oibre ar siúl 24 uair sa lá, seacht lá na seachtaine. Caithfear aitheantas a thabhairt dóibh agus an bónas €1,000 a chur ar fáil dóibh.

Yesterday, the Government announced that some healthcare workers would receive a €1,000 bonus payment for their work during the Covid-19 pandemic. I am sure that this is welcome news for many of those who will receive it. However, there remains a high level of ambiguity about who exactly will receive the payment. The Government has not been clear about this over the past 24 hours. I would appreciate some clarity as to how who will be able to receive the payment will be determined and when they will receive it. For example, what about the cleaners in hospitals and other agency staff who are not directly employed by the HSE? Will they be entitled to this €1,000 bonus?

The group of people who feel most let down by this omission so far are family carers. As the Tánaiste knows, family carers provide care that is very specialised, intense and intimate. They of course deserve recognition from everyone in this House, but they deserve more than just a pat on the back or soft words. Over the course of the past two years, carers have seen their respite as well as access to day centres for those whom they care for curtailed. This has increased what was already a significant workload for family carers. As a consequence of this, the State has saved money but the care they provide already saves the State hundreds of millions of euro every year. There is no use in telling carers that they will get an extra public holiday instead because family carers do not get the benefit of public holidays. Theirs is a 24-7 role. Indeed, family carers have said that it will probably put more pressure on them because day services and schools will close that day, meaning that family carers and full-time carers will have no supports that day. Their extraordinary efforts during the pandemic must be recognised. Will the Government do the right thing and move to ensure that those in receipt of the carer's support grant also qualify for the €1,000 bonus payment? It is the least they deserve.

This morning, the Taoiseach announced on "Morning Ireland" that a panel will be established to examine the categories of worker to be included in the Covid-19 bonus payment. This raises a number of questions that the Tánaiste might be able to answer. Who will appoint the panel or has it already been appointed? Have its terms of reference been agreed by the Cabinet and what are they? Who will the panel report to and when will we see a report? When will people know whether they are in or out? While yesterday's announcement was welcome, it is clear that the preparation has not been done, with many workers still not knowing whether they will receive this bonus payment. That is not fair. We understand that they will now be waiting on the work of this panel. There was no talk of a panel yesterday but it has now emerged that there will be one. This bonus payment was first promised by the Taoiseach in July, and the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform stated that it would be agreed and announced well in advance of Christmas, yet that did not happen. The Tánaiste is on the record of the House as saying that a bonus payment should not be limited to healthcare workers only. I am asking for clarity on these issues.

The Deputy is welcome back.

It is important to state that there are three elements to what the Government announced yesterday. The day of remembrance and recognition will recognise the 9,000 people who have died from Covid on this island and all workers, all volunteers and the general public for the efforts they made to help us bring this pandemic under control. That is the first element. There will be a four-day weekend, running from 17 to 20 March, with a State ceremony and service most likely on Sunday, 20 March.

There will be a new public holiday from which all workers in the public and private sectors will benefit. It will be an extra day off for which workers will be fully paid. People who have to work or choose to work on that day will get a day off in lieu or double pay. I appreciate that those who are not in employment or who are self-employed will not but we tried to cover as many people as we could.

The tax-free recognition payment of €1,000 will be paid to more than 100,000 front-line healthcare workers. It is difficult to know where to draw the line with these things. We gave it a great deal of thought and had some consultation and we decided that those who would receive this additional payment were those who worked in clinical settings, wore masks and gowns every day, were employees of the State and were exposed to Covid patients every day. I do not mean just at risk of being exposed to someone who might have Covid, but those who definitely were exposed to people who had Covid, were in clinical settings and did all of that at a time when there were no vaccines. Those are the criteria that we have applied. They cover more than 100,000 people. Agency workers are included if their agencies were contracted to the HSE. An agency nurse, agency cleaner or agency paramedic working side by side with regular HSE employees is included in this payment. I am happy to give that clarification. However, where someone worked for a private company, for example, a private hospital, GP practice, pharmacy or private swab centre, he or she is not covered. There were substantial fees paid to those businesses and companies for the work they did during the pandemic. Many have already paid a bonus to their staff and can do so if they choose to. Up to €500 of the €1,000 can be paid without any taxation.

There will be further information today. It will relate to the criteria for those who are covered by the payment and those who are not. I can confirm that agency workers in public hospitals who were contracted or seconded to the HSE, if that makes sense, or a public body will be covered.

We do not have the membership or terms of reference of the panel finalised yet but that will be done in the near future.

When will the payment be made? It is our objective to pay it in February or March. There is an issue with legislation. This will require primary legislation to amend the Finance Act and the Social Welfare Consolidation Act. The latter need to be amended in order that we can make the payment exempt from income tax, USC and PRSI. That can be done quite quickly, and that is the objective in order that we can make these payments to people in their regular payroll payments in February or March.

While I reckon there are three points to this, three different steps that were agreed, I am focused on the €1,000 bonus payment. This morning the Taoiseach stated that a panel will be established. When he was questioned directly about categories such as carers, he said they are not ruled out. The Tánaiste has given an answer here today that the payment will only be made to those working in clinical settings. Is there a possibility that carers will be included when it comes to the €1,000 bonus payment?

What is the role of the panel? What will its terms of reference be? What job has it to do? Is it to look beyond clinical settings? Is it to look at people such as carers or not? When speaking about the public holiday, the Tánaiste indicated that people will get a day off or, if they are working, get double payment. Carers will get none of that. Indeed, this will increase the pressure on carers. The latter were predominantly caring for those who were at highest risk during the pandemic, many of whom were immunocompromised. They will not get a day off or a double payment. This will increase the pressure on them because day services and schools will be closed, meaning that other supports that they would rely on normally will not be there. The Tánaiste has made the point previously that other jurisdictions limited their bonus payments to healthcare workers. I am of the view that carers are front-line healthcare workers. Does the Tánaiste believe that carers who have provided that valuable work for the State and looked after their loved ones during the height of the pandemic should be included in the bonus payment?

The Government decision yesterday was that this will apply only to employees of the State, but that includes agency workers working for the State. There are different types of carers, as the Deputy knows. There are HSE carers, carers who work for agencies, family carers who are in receipt of carer's allowance and carer's benefit and family carers who are not in receipt of those benefits. Home carers employed by the HSE go around to lots of houses. They may have been exposed to dozens or hundreds of people through the course of their work. Family carers almost always provide care in their own home or perhaps in the household of a close relative, so I think there is a difference there. They do, however, deserve recognition. The main thing we want to do this year for family carers is to change the rules in order that they can avail of the State contributory pension. Generally, people in receipt of the carer's allowance are unable to get regular employment because of their caring responsibilities and they miss out on the State contributory pension as a result. We want to change that this year, and the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, has been tasked to do that. That is the way we can recognise family carers and would in fact be much more valuable in financial terms, if you work it out, than a €1,000 payment.