Last week the Irish Congress of Trade Unions urged Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD to engage with healthcare unions in relation to the Special Leave with Pay Scheme for healthcare workers with Long Covid, which expired at the end of December 2025.

The call came after Pádraig Rice TD, Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Health, wrote to the Minister expressing the Committee’s strong disappointment in Government’s failure to address the issue. Deputy Rice stated that the expired scheme should be replaced “with a permanent scheme that recognises these workers’ needs, and indeed their sacrifice”.

Fórsa has been advocating for Long Covid to be designated as an occupational disease within the health service, and for a special scheme to be approved to support members through their recovery.

The temporary scheme, which supported around 120 workers who contracted Covid-19 during the pandemic, ended last year, following a Labour Court ruling which stated that it could not recommend a permanent scheme in the absence of Government recognition of Long Covid as an occupational illness.

As a result, all affected workers were advised to transfer to the Public Service Sick Leave Scheme. 

Calling on the Minister to act, president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) and general secretary of the INMO, Phil Ní Sheaghdha said that workers should not be faced with a loss of income for having done their jobs, particularly during such a difficult time for the country. 

She said: “The Special Leave with Pay Scheme catered for a relatively small number of people who made huge sacrifices during the pandemic. When the daily lives of those people are still being affected, well-meaning words from Government Ministers are simply not enough.”

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