Fórsa and other health unions have called on the health minister to urgently intervene over the issue of non-payment of the pandemic recognition payment.

The payment, announced by the Government in January, has been paid to more than 100,000 health staff. However, non-HSE staff have yet to receive it. They include agency workers and staff in ‘section 39’ organisations, Tusla, private nursing homes and the Irish blood transfusion service.

The National Joint Council of HSE staff unions, made up of Fórsa the INMO, SIPTU, and others sought the intervention of the minister this week, as unions continued their efforts to ensure the payment goes to all workers in high-risk Covid environments during the height of the pandemic.

Fórsa national secretary Ashley Connolly called on the health minister and his officials to end their hands-off approach. “They must outline precisely how and when these workers - who they were quick to call heroes - will be paid what is due to them,” she said.