We move to the Regional Group. I call Deputy Canney.

I would like to raise with the Taoiseach a very important issue in regard to the Government's plan to make a once-off tax free €1,000 bonus payment to front-line healthcare workers and the concerns that not all of our front-line workers will be included in this bonus payment. Take, for example, a letter I received from Ability West in Galway which provides services right across the region. It stated that it is with great shock that it is beginning to realise that section 39 disability service providers will potentially be excluded from the once-off bonus payment. This is divisive and it is also creating a tier within our health service provision, which is very worrying and very dangerous. Where people are providing care in residential services, respite services, day services and multidisciplinary services, it is important they get the same recognition as section 38 or HSE directly employed front-line workers.

Many workers involved in these hospitals who were gowned up and dealing with people who had Covid, bringing them their food and taking care of them, and they were contracted in by subcontractors. Will they be included?

A huge shadow has been cast over the scheme. It is right that the scheme should be brought in but it has to be thought out fully to make sure that the people who deserve it will get it, and that we do not make sections within our health service among those who provided the same type of service right across the board. We think about people in nursing homes who were gowned up every day and who provided all the protocols that were needed. How come they may not be included in this plan?

People will ask how far do we go with this but, at the end of the day, we have a situation where the Government is bringing forward a plan and the plan does not seem to be fair to everybody. When we entered into Covid, the restrictions and everything that was applied to them, the one thing we said was that we are all in this together. If there is going to be a bonus for healthcare workers, it needs to be there for all healthcare workers who provided so much service to the State. I also believe family carers should be considered for the scheme. The Taoiseach might ask how far do we go with it. We need to know, before the scheme is introduced, that all of those who made a contribution, who were gowned up, who were in the situation where they were putting their own health at risk for the sake of others and to save others, are all included in the scheme.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. As he correctly said, in recognition of the efforts of the general public, volunteers and, indeed, all workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, and in remembrance of people who lost their lives due to Covid-19, the Government announced last week a once-off public holiday that will take place on Friday, 18 March this year, and a new annual public holiday from 2023 in celebration of St. Brigid's day.

The Government also announced the Covid-19 recognition payment for front-line public sector healthcare workers to recognise their unique role during the pandemic. The payment of €1,000 will not be subject to tax, USC or PRSI. It will be ring-fenced for staff ordinarily on site in healthcare environments exposed to Covid-19 in the period from 1 March 2020 to 30 June 2021. Those eligible for the Covid-19 recognition payment are general front-line public healthcare workers who are directly employed by the public health sector and worked or trained in environments exposed to Covid-19 or clinical settings. Aside from the staff covered by that, staff also intended to be covered by this arrangement are home carers working for and contracted out to the HSE, and agency staff who worked in clinical settings for the HSE, including agency nurses, doctors, cleaners and paramedics. Those working in long-term disability care facilities, under section 39, and in public-private voluntary nursing homes and hospices are also covered. The arrangements for processing this decision are currently being finalised by the Department of Health and the HSE. It is challenging, without a doubt.

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform made the point that it is difficult to know where to draw a line once it goes beyond healthcare workers. The core objective was to respond, in particular, to the front-line healthcare workers who were faced with challenging situations in acute hospital settings throughout the pandemic, because of the various surges and waves of the pandemic and of different variants, which caused enormous distress, with people putting themselves at risk on a consistent basis over a long time and through the entirety of the pandemic.

The bank holiday arrangement is a general acknowledgement of everyone's contribution, as well as permanent remembrance and recognition of those who lost their lives and of the trauma that many people went through during the pandemic.

I thank the Taoiseach for the comprehensive reply. I welcome the fact this payment is being made. I reiterate that section 38 service providers, like Ability West, should have their front-line workers included. The Minister, Deputy Donnelly, said that this payment will be for everyone who was on site, involved, and had to be around patients. The Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, said that healthcare staff wearing gowns and masks, who were exposed in Covid-19 in clinical settings, should receive special recognition. Organisations such as Ability West fit all of these categories. It is a section 38 company, which provides a significant service right across the region of Galway and the west of Ireland. I plead with the Taoiseach to make sure that its front-line workers are included so that we do not have division.

I welcome the fact a public holiday has been created this year as a once-off, with a public holiday in commemoration thereafter. All of these things are noble and to be welcomed. We are making a bonus payment and we should make sure that we do not leave a sour taste in anybody's mouth when it is all over. Those who are entitled to it should receive it. In the spirit of being generous and everyone being in it together, that should be done.

I appreciate where the Deputy is coming from. Ability West does exceptional work. It is a broad-based organisation, covering a range of services, including day, respite, residential, outreach and multidisciplinary support services, for both children and adults with intellectual disabilities. That is acknowledged. The challenge facing Government is the difficulty in drawing clear demarcation lines for this. Fundamentally, it is about front-line healthcare workers, who were continually exposed, on multiple occasions, to multiple patients through engagements with them throughout the pandemic.

Early on, when we saw the programmes on RTÉ and elsewhere illustrating the impact of the pandemic on intensive care, there was a clear understanding of why that area in particular needed clear recognition, above and beyond others. It was because they were really in the firing line. There is a two-tiered response here. There is the recognition payment and then there is the general bank holiday, which is permanent and will apply to everybody else.