Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

My question is simple. Will long Covid be included in the terms of reference of the Covid inquiry? It is clearly important that if we are to come to a balanced assessment of mistakes that were made and so on, we do not look just at the short term but also at the long-term implications for hundreds of thousands of people, such as illness, isolation and inability to work. In that regard, the economic impacts alone are severe.

According to the World Health Organization, one in ten Covid infections results in long Covid. There are 350,000 people in Ireland suffering from long Covid. The Government has utterly failed to organise proper healthcare services for long Covid, such as basic training for GPs to properly diagnose and manage it. It is not recognised as a disability for the purposes of social welfare.

The Government continues to fail to warn the public about the ongoing dangers of contracting Covid through a public information campaign. Again, Taoiseach, it is a very simple question. Will long Covid be included in the terms of reference of the inquiry?

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