Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 May 2022
70. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Social Protection if her Department has engaged in research in respect of the need to devise a disability-related payment to deal with the effects of long Covid. [24811/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraHas the Minister's Department engaged in research in respect of the need to devise a disability-related payment to deal with the effects of long Covid? I acknowledge the existence of the Covid-19 enhanced illness benefit payment and that it will be in place until the end of June 2022. My reason for raising this is that we seek clarity as to whether there will be continuity of that payment and, second, given that there is now a clinical recognition of the effects of long Covid, whether the Department is responding to that.
I thank the Deputy for raising this.
My Department provides a suite of income supports for those who are unable to work due to an illness or disability. Entitlement to these supports is contingent on the extent to which a particular illness or disability impairs or restricts a person's capacity to work. It is not dependent on the nature of the illness or disability. As a result, I do not believe there is a need to research and devise a specific payment for long Covid as it is covered, like all other conditions, by the range of disability-related payments provided by the Department which are not condition-specific.
In March 2020, the Government introduced an enhanced rate of illness benefit for persons who had been diagnosed with Covid-19 or who were a probable source of infection with Covid-19. This temporary measure has been extended a number of times by the Government. The rate of €350 for the enhanced payment is higher than the normal maximum personal rate of illness benefit. The focus of this payment was to enable people to comply with medical advice to isolate while having their income protected and to limit the spread of the virus. Where persons continue to be ill beyond the ten weeks of receiving enhanced illness benefit they can apply for the standard illness benefit, which is the primary income support provided by the Department to those who are unable to work due to illness of any type and who are covered by PRSI contributions. Illness benefit is payable for up to two years.
My Department keeps the range of income supports under review to make sure they meet their objectives. Any changes to the current system would have to be considered in an overall policy and budgetary context. I trust this clarifies the matter.
I thank the Minister for her response. If I interpret her correctly, I can understand her retaining the status quo because the nature of the illness benefit is clearly defined in terms of what a person must do to meet the criteria. However, what is happening now in this country, and there is robust clinical evidence for this, is that hospitals such as Cork University Hospital, CUH, in the South/South West Hospital Group have set up or are in the process of establishing long Covid clinics. That will be replicated throughout the country. If somebody moves from the enhanced illness benefit onto the illness benefit, that is for a period of two years. The issue is the period thereafter. Some people will not qualify for an invalidity pension. The presentation of the illnesses they present with, even though it has been determined that they have long Covid from a clinical point of view, may not be a presentation that is prescribed under the terms of the Department's policy. That is why I am raising this. It is the long game I am playing here-----
Please do not play the long game on the question.
-----because there will have to be a recognition of long Covid as a qualifying condition.
Stick to the time.
I appreciate the point the Deputy is making. I recognise that Covid-19 impacted people differently. Some people who had it felt it was just like a bad cold and there were others, particularly those with underlying conditions and older people, on whom it impacted very seriously. All the measures the Government took over the last two years, including the various restrictions and so forth, were to protect our most vulnerable people until the vaccine programme was rolled out in full. Thankfully, we are at a stage now where the economy is fully reopened, society is returning to normal and we are not seeing a major spike in hospitalisations. That is down to the high vaccine rates in this country. They are way ahead of those of many other countries. That said, however, Covid-19 has not gone away. There are people with long Covid who are impacted more severely. Not long ago, I met somebody who had Covid in March and who is back at work, but there is no doubt that the person is very tired at times.
The answer to my question is "No"; that is the short answer the Minister is giving. I acknowledge that but I will continue to bang the drum on this. I am worried that there is a statistically significant cohort of persons who ordinarily will go from the enhanced payment to illness benefit, the clock will tick down the two years and then they potentially will fall off the cliff if they are not eligible to move onto an invalidity or long-term payment, as devised by the Department. The worry I have for those people is that the Department might be too stringent in how it applies rules and the criteria that they must meet for illness benefit payment.
I merely ask the Minister to carry out some early stage research, perhaps with the Department of Health and the HSE, for instance, to see how long Covid is affecting people who ordinarily would be back in the workplace, but who, for very valid clinically indicated reasons based on a determination that it is due to long Covid, will not be back in the workplace any time soon. Those are the people I am thinking of.
I do not have a specific scheme that depends on one's medical condition. The scheme we have covers all medical conditions. The Deputy said that if somebody is looking for invalidity pension, he or she may have to reach certain criteria. I am open to looking at issues but, as it stands, I cannot say that somebody who has long Covid should get a different payment from somebody who has long-term cancer. I cannot treat them differently. However, as the Deputy will be aware, when people got the PUP payment, we allowed them to continue to accrue their PRSI credits. If there is something wrong, I am happy to talk to him offline about it.
It is the medical certification. If the medical certification says long Covid, then that should suffice.
I will look at it.
I thank the Minister.
