Covid payment given to 50,000 more frontline staff than expected

The State has made €208 million in Covid-19 pandemic payments to frontline staff working in healthcare, according to Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.

Payments have been made to 142,250 staff, about 50,000 more than was originally anticipated.

Only a small number of eligible staff have yet to receive the €1,000 tax-free payment, Mr Donnelly told the Oireachtas health committee on Wednesday, but he was unable to say how many are in this category.

The payment, given in recognition of the efforts of staff in healthcare during the pandemic, has been made to about 90,000 Health Service Executive staff and 52,000 public-sector employees of section 38 bodies funded by the State.

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The State has spent €88 million on payments for HSE employees, €52 million on section 38 employees and €67 million on section 39, non-public sector employees, Mr Donnelly said.

He was responding to questions from committee chairman Seán Crowe, who said it was “unforgivable” that some staff had not yet received the payment.

Mr Donnelly said he had asked the HSE to pay such bodies on a self-assessment basis, and to validate the individual payments made afterwards.

He said 727 applications had been received under this process, of which 655 had been processed. Ninety per cent of the submission contained errors, which the HSE is working through.

In relation to Dublin Fire Brigade staff and prison nurses, he said the money had been sent through to these employers “quite some time ago”.

Asked when the planned extension of free GP care to six- and seven-year-olds and people under the median household income would happen, Mr Donnelly said his officials were in negotiations with the Irish Medical Organisation on the proposal and it would therefore not be appropriate at this stage to give a starting date.

Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane pointed out the Minister had promised to implement the measure on April 1st. He accused Mr Donnelly of “failing to plan” and making the announcement last year “half-cocked”.

Mr Donnelly acknowledged the promised date was not being met but said the IMO had raised genuine concerns that had to be addressed.