There was a powerful briefing yesterday in the audiovisual room by Long Covid Advocacy Ireland and Long Covid Kids. We heard about the devastating impact of long Covid on some of the hundreds of thousands of people who were affected by long Covid in this country, the children who were unable to attend school every day and the adults unable to work.

It is almost a year since this Dáil passed a good motion on taking long Covid seriously, but the people affected feel, understandably, that the Government and the HSE are not taking long Covid seriously. The question is whether the Government is going to do that. Covid is not going away, unfortunately, and every additional infection that someone gets increases their chances of ending up affected by long Covid. Will the Government take long Covid seriously? Will it launch an awareness campaign to alert the public to the dangers of contracting Covid and the possibility of ending up with long Covid? Will it ensure that there is training for GPs to ensure appropriate diagnosis and management of long Covid, and will it provide financial support for those affected by long Covid, including healthcare workers and others?

First, I wish the students from the High School, Rathgar the very best in respect of their tour of Dáil Éireann. We thank them for their presence here and hope that some of them will emerge in the not too distant future as Members of this House.

In terms of the briefing-----

I hope they are better able to read the clock than the ones we have here at present.

It has been one of my lifelong difficulties, a Cheann Comhairle.

When I used to attend secondary school, I was always five minutes late and my twin brother was always five minutes early, to which at the end of my sixth year in school the Deputy Principal, totally flummoxed by this, said: "Is that why you only had one spoon to eat the egg?" That has been the story of my life. I apologise when I get here a minute too late.

Okay.

On the serious question of long Covid, and I know the Minister for Health is here, we are committed in a programmatic way to deal with the implications of long Covid in all its manifestations, through the primary care sector, diagnostics and also in terms of ongoing care. We are also doing research, which I think is critical, because we are still learning.