Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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2. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the steps she is taking to facilitate claims by those unable to work due to long Covid; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37484/24]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I want to raise the issue of long Covid with the Minister. During the summer, an academic report review article was published on long Covid, covering the science, research and policy. It made quite a number of recommendations, some of which are applicable to the Minister's Department. It was published in Nature Medicine. It is talking about taking a more adaptive and flexible approach to support long Covid patients so they can come back into the workforce.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. At the onset of the pandemic, the Government acted early and without hesitation to support all workers who contracted Covid-19. Workers outside the public sector could avail of an enhanced illness benefit payment and eligibility criteria were set to include the largest cohort of workers possible, including the self-employed.

The scheme paid some 578,000 claims at a cost of more than €350 million. The temporary scheme of paid leave for public health service employees was introduced in relation to employees in the health services who had not recovered from a Covid-19 infection. This temporary scheme is a matter for the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and has been extended by that Minister a number of times, most recently to June 2025. My Department continues to provide a suite of income supports to those who cannot work due to illness or disability. These supports are available to people with Covid-19 and long Covid. Eligibility for these payments is generally not dependent on the type of illness or disability but on the extent to which a particular illness or disability impairs or restricts a person’s capacity to work. Illness benefit is the primary income support provided by my Department to those who cannot work in the short term due to illness of any kind. Eligibility for illness benefit depends on the person’s PRSI record and class and only contributions made under classes A, E, H or P count toward this payment.

The two main long-term disability income support payments provided by my Department are invalidity pension and disability allowance. Invalidity pension is a social insurance weekly payment paid from the Social Insurance Fund. Eligibility is based on PRSI contributions and medical condition. Disability allowance is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. People who are ill but do not qualify for other illness or disability schemes may apply for means-tested supports through the supplementary welfare allowance scheme to help to meet essential expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. This includes certain supplements to assist with ongoing or recurring costs that cannot be met from a person’s own resources.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I refer to the publication last August in Nature Medicine by Dr. Al-Aly and his team. He works in Washington University with veterans. They looked at studies all over the globe on long Covid. They made the point that recovery rates are extremely low after one year. Medical officers in the Minister's Department based in Longford have been taking a flexible approach in relation to patients with long Covid symptoms. I acknowledge them in relation to that. I carried out poll research, which is sadly the only evidence because we are still waiting for the HSE to come out with prevalence figures. Based on poll figures Ireland Thinks produced on my behalf, it is possible that 2.2% of adults in this country could have the symptoms of long Covid extending way beyond 12 months. We need a co-ordinated strategy.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I have not seen the report to which the Deputy referred. I know he has done a great deal of work representing people with long Covid. He has highlighted the issue on many occasions. I too have met people in my constituency office who told me they still feel the effects of Covid and are unable to do the same things physically they could before they had it. There are a number of existing schemes people can avail of such as illness benefit or disability allowance. Some people are perhaps able to work but due to their condition are not fit to work as much as they could before. I encourage them to apply for partial capacity benefit. It is available to anybody whose capacity to work is reduced due to a medical condition. There are different levels of payment depending on the severity of their condition. That is another option along with illness benefit and disability allowance if people are able to do some amount of work.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I will come back to the report again. One of the points made in the report is that there needs to be streamlining of disability benefit processes. I accept that schemes are available from the Minister's Department but it would be better if it was clearly defined on the Department's website, "If you have the symptoms of long Covid for a period of time, these are the options available to you", rather than people having to piece them together individually. That is the issue I want to bring to the Minister's attention. The other point which is related to the Department's schemes is a recommendation that workplace policies to support individuals with long Covid should include flexible working hours, increased breaks to allow for pacing, the option for remote work and sick leave policies. The Minister needs to lead from the front and encourage employers to have that flexible approach.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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In fairness to most employers, generally they try to be flexible because my attitude has always been, if you give a little you usually get far more back. Partial capacity payment should perhaps be promoted more; I accept that. To be fair to the Department of Social Protection, it is good at telling people the options available to them when it replies to them. We will make sure they are aware of the partial capacity payment. It can be paid for a longer period of up to three years, so they should look into it.