A total of 159 healthcare workers with long Covid have been in receipt of payments over the past four to five years. Those payments are in recognition of the fact that they contracted the virus in high-risk settings such as hospital wards at the peak of the pandemic. They were often without adequate PPE. They have paid an enormous price in the form of symptoms such as debilitating post-exertional malaise. This can mean that a person might struggle to lift a cup of tea after what most of us would consider mild exertion or having to go back to bed with exhaustion after dropping their children to school. Their quality of life has been ruined by this condition, and they are not able to work. Despite the sacrifices that these healthcare workers made on our behalf, they now face the loss of financial security at the end of June because this payment will be coming to an end. Many were infected in early January 2021, following the so-called meaningful Christmas, during which restrictions on movement were crudely lifted by the Government against the advice of public health experts. Will the Government provide these workers with an occupational injury scheme that will remove financial insecurity from the many burdens they carry?

I am familiar with the issue. The payment was extended on a number of occasions previously. I will talk to the Minister for Health in respect of this. I will have to check if it would be possible to do a separate ring-fenced occupational scheme. However, I doubt it because doing so would open up precedents for a range of other schemes. These workers put themselves on the line for the country and its people during a very trying time. I have always advocated on their behalf regarding maintaining the existing payment as long as we possibly can. I will talk the Minister for Health in that regard.