![\"During](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/4907276_1_articleinline_Copy_20of_2025-09_1_1_.jpg\" "\\"During")
During the Covid pandemic nurses, like Fiona Walsh pictured in the INMO centre in Cork, were often the only human contact for isolated patients. Picture Chani Anderson<\/p>\nTwo Cork healthcare workers suffering with long covid fear they won\u2019t be able to pay their mortgage if a planned cessation of their special pay scheme goes ahead on the last day of this year.<\/p>\n
Olivia Barry told The Echo that if the scheme is ceased,she and other workers will only be covered under the normal public sector sick leave scheme, which would see them receiving three months full pay, then three month\u2019s half pay, then moving onto illness benefit, which is a significantly lower amount.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe won\u2019t be able to pay our mortgages,\u201d Ms Barry said. \u201cWe\u2019re heading into another Christmas and we can\u2019t enjoy Christmas with our families. People are tired of hearing about covid and they want to move on, but we\u2019re stuck.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Barry explained that five years ago she worked in a designated covid ward at what was an exceptionally challenging time for everyone.<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHealthcare workers went to work when the majority of people were told to stay home, and it was hands-on work. We were unable to socially distance.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
She explained that the country was opened up for Christmas in 2020 by the government against Nphet advice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw the consequences, infection went up day-by-day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was applause in the D\u00e1il for us, but it\u2019s gone silent now and we\u2019re back on a cliff edge, facing the cessation of the special pay scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said that her life is very different since contracting covid.<\/p>\n
\u201cI now live with debilitating fatigue. I\u2019m continuously exhausted, despite sleeping through the night. I never have a restorative sleep. It fluctuates, some days you might be able to do a little more, push yourself a bit, then you crash and your symptoms are back worse than ever.<\/p>\n
\n \u201cPrior to contracting covid, I lived a very active life. I enjoyed my work as a nurse. The Government has said that the pay scheme was a temporary thing. But my illness hasn\u2019t been temporary, none of us realised we were going to end up like this.\n <\/p>\n
\u201cI was a hard worker, as is any other healthcare worker in the country, and I would be at work today if I could. I worked in the same care setting for over 20 years and took great pride in my work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis time of the year, every year, we pay our nursing registration. I\u2019ve paid the last five years and haven\u2019t been able to practise.\u201d<\/p>\n
She explained that they have been trialling different medications and seeing an expert on long covid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re still researching, trying to come up with something, but it\u2019s very hard to say how long it is going to take.\u201d<\/p>\n
Currently, she says, affected workers are managing on lower pay than they would have received for working, as they do not get the extra pay they would have for working Sundays and nights.<\/p>\n
Ireland and Greece are the only two EU countries who do not recognise long covid contracted during work as an occupational injury, and this classification means that the Labour Court\u2019s hands are tied, she said.<\/p>\n
During the Covid pandemic nurses, like Fiona Walsh pictured in the INMO centre in Cork, were often the only human contact for isolated patients. Picture Chani Anderson<\/p>\n
Another Cork woman, Fiona Walsh, told The Echo that her covid journey goes back to January 2021.<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI contracted covid at work following the country reopening for a \u2018meaningful Christmas\u2019 \u2014 my ward became a covid ward, and it was a very difficult situation for everybody, especially for patients and their families because of the restrictions on visitors,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n
\u201cMany of us on the scheme contracted covid before the vaccines. Many staff had issues with PPE, it was very difficult times. When I got sick, I thought \u2018I\u2019m young, I\u2019m healthy, I\u2019ll be fine. I\u2019ll do my isolation and be back to work\u2019. Unfortunately, that was nearly five years ago, and I still haven\u2019t been back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Symptom-wise, she says it\u2019s difficult to explain how debilitating it is.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fatigue is the worst, I worked full-time and I had a lot of energy before, but this has changed everything. When people hear fatigue, they think you\u2019re tired. But it\u2019s more than being tired. It\u2019s going to do the food shop, then having to come home and go straight to bed. It\u2019s choosing between having dinner or going for a shower.<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI suffer from severe brain fog, I mix up my own medications, forget words and sentences. I burn the dinner if I don\u2019t have a timer set. I\u2019ve gone to bed with the doors all unlocked. I left the kitchen sink on and flooded the kitchen,\u201d she said, explaining that she could not provide safe nursing care as a result of this.\n <\/p>\n
Tachycardia, joint pain, muscular pain, nerve pain, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, and recurring mouth ulcers are among the other symptoms she has experienced.<\/p>\n
Ms Walsh said: \u201cAll long covid patients face medical expenses. Every doctor\u2019s appointment is up to \u20ac250. My medication every month is \u20ac80 and that\u2019s only because it\u2019s capped through the drug payment scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n
She explained that the unions are fighting for a specific scheme for healthcare workers, as the current scheme has a lot of red tape, and that this would see long covid classified as an occupational injury, but she said that in the short term, even the extension of the current scheme would be a help.<\/p>\n
She said it has been a long fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 2020 version of me would never have expected this version of me \u2014 talking to the media, speaking in the D\u00e1il, to TDs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is very hard speaking publicly about something this personal, telling people that some of us are ging to struggle to pay our mortgages.<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe minister for health repeatedly says we\u2019re on full pay, but healthcare workers get premium allowances for Sundays, night duty, bank holidays and that\u2019s what would bulk your salary up.\n <\/p>\n
\u201cWe had been getting paid that, but in March 2023, the department of public expenditure stopped our premium pay and since then we\u2019re just getting basic pay. My salary is probably down \u20ac400-\u20ac500 a month, so I do feel the pinch, especially with the cost of living and electricity prices increasing.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that it\u2019s a difficult time of year to be experiencing this concern. \u201cWe need a Christmas miracle at this stage, but I\u2019m not sure if we\u2019re going to get it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both nurses highlighted how supportive the unions had been, and said certain TDs had also been very helpful, naming Social Democrats\u2019 Liam Quaide and P\u00e1draig Rice, and Fine Gael\u2019s Colm Burke.<\/p>\n
Mr Quaide told The Echo: \u201cIt\u2019s heartless of the Government to discard healthcare workers with long covid at an arbitrary cut-off date after they developed a disabling condition following an occupational illness. Many of these workers were essentially cannon fodder in an overwhelmed and over-exposed health system following the government\u2019s \u2018meaningful Christmas\u2019 in 2020, in advance of which they ignored public health guidance on the rapid escalation of covid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government needs to recognise long covid as the occupational injury that it is for these workers and give them some peace of mind regarding their financial security.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two Cork healthcare workers suffering with long covid fear they won\u2019t be able to pay their mortgage if…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[15607,160,103,397,396,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-202361","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-cork-health","9":"tag-covid-19","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-health-care","12":"tag-healthcare","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}