I am being contacted regularly by people who worked in front-line jobs throughout the Covid pandemic but who have not been allocated, or told whether they will be allocated, the pandemic special recognition payment. Some are unsure whether their employer has applied for the payment. One person, who worked in a nursing home but no longer works there, suspects her former employer has received the payment but has not passed it on to anyone who is no longer employed there. Another is a cleaner in an ambulance station who is constantly being fobbed off by the employer and told to check her emails. Another worked in a residential unit for young people in care under the auspices of Tusla. She is not sure whether she is eligible and she cannot find out whether her employer has made an application. The scheme administrator engaged by the HSE engages only with employers, so there is no way for employees to find out whether they are eligible, whether they will get the payment or, indeed, whether their current or former employer has even made the application. Could a mechanism be put in place whereby employees could find out whether they are going to get the payment or whether an application has been made?

That is concerning to hear. The HSE has engaged in good faith and the Government has funded the payments in good faith so that those in the voluntary sector and the private sector, such as in nursing homes, would make these payments. The criteria are clear for those employers in terms of the periods when the workers would need to have been there and whether they were involved in patient-facing areas, so there should not be a problem. It is concerning to hear the reports the Deputy is getting, so I will take them back to the Department and the HSE. If healthcare workers are entitled to this payment, they deserve answers and deserve to know whether their employer has applied to the HSE. I can confirm that the great majority of those who are entitled to the payment have got it, but we will keep going to ensure everybody does.