I very much welcome the Government's announcement some months ago about the €1,000 Covid bonus payment. The Government is going to extend it to members of the Defence Forces. The Minister might not be aware that not a single soldier, sailor or flight crew member has received that €1,000 bonus payment yet. Worse still, not only have they not received it, but they have not even applied for it because no mechanism exists to apply. I would be grateful if the Minister could look into this and follow it up with the appropriate line Minister.

I will look into that further. To date almost 62,000 HSE staff have received the payment as have an estimated 14,000 staff in section 38 organisations. Over 75,000 people have been paid to date. When it comes to those who are not directly employed by the State, including those in private nursing homes, hospices as well as members of the Defence Forces who are employed by the State but not by the HSE, the Department of Health is working with the parent employers to put in place a process for that payment to be made as quickly as possible. I will ask the Minister to respond to the Deputy.