76. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Health the steps she is taking to protect the incomes of front-line healthcare workers who continue to suffer from long Covid and who are in receipt of the special scheme of paid leave, which is due to expire in the coming weeks; if she plans to protect these workers by extending this scheme or recognising long Covid as an occupational illness; and if she will make a s…
TDs / Marie Sherlock
Marie Sherlock
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1,206
questions asked
Oral and written, to government departments
117,003
words spoken in the chamber
Across 307 contributions. Plus 32 contributions from the chair, not counted
378
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
186
topics asked about
Across 20 departments
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
What they ask about
The subject headings the Oireachtas filed their questions under.
Who they ask
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Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Questions asked 1,206 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Contributions to debates 307 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions | Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 11 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 77 | 13 |
| March 2025 | 92 | 19 |
| April 2025 | 72 | 13 |
| May 2025 | 98 | 28 |
| June 2025 | 79 | 18 |
| July 2025 | 44 | 25 |
| August 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 71 | 6 |
| October 2025 | 61 | 27 |
| November 2025 | 70 | 13 |
| December 2025 | 33 | 22 |
| January 2026 | 120 | 11 |
| February 2026 | 95 | 14 |
| March 2026 | 36 | 15 |
| April 2026 | 72 | 20 |
| May 2026 | 40 | 10 |
| June 2026 | 41 | 9 |
| July 2026 | 18 | 25 |
| August 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 56 | 3 |
| October 2026 | 20 | 16 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 186 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Asked about similar topics
Worked out by computer from the subject headings of each TD's questions, giving more weight to headings few TDs use. It shows shared subjects, not shared views.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Dublin Central 29 November 2024 to now
- party Labour Party 29 November 2024 to now
My question relates to the special sick pay scheme for Covid sufferers in the health service. As the Minister knows, it is expiring at the end of this year. We spoke about this in June. The Labour Court ruled that it should be extended to the end of the year. What interventions is the Minister making to ensure those 120-plus workers have decent financial support into 2026 in recognition of the fact they acquired this…
Every long Covid sufferer out there will acknowledge that this scheme has been extended. They are very grateful that it has been kept going until now, but the reality is 159 healthcare workers are out there, including nurses, healthcare support workers, social workers and those working in mental health institutions, who face the prospect of a dramatic drop in income because of a condition they acquired in the workpla…
I do not think anybody is suggesting that full pay is sustainable into 2026 and beyond, but what should be sustainable for a small amount of money is a recognition that it is an occupational illness, with a new scheme put in place. The reality is that the science in 2021 suggested that people would be fully over long Covid at this stage. In June, I said I believed the Department was splitting hairs between Covid-19 a…
I very much welcome our having these statements today, and the big breakthrough that has happened over the past week in terms of the agreement to the inquiry. Obviously, we have to see what the exact form of that inquiry will be. We have seen scandal after scandal in spinal services within CHI over many years. It is very welcome that there will now be a proper investigation of that. I know we have had statements befo…
The fate of hundreds of thousands of young people, workers, families and those with a disability relies on what the Government will publish in its new plan for housing tomorrow. It is not a dramatic statement to say that young people are leaving our shores, workers with good jobs and decent incomes have zero hope of being able to buy, workers of all ages are condemned to a rental market with exorbitant rents, and tho…
What I am hearing from the Taoiseach is that Housing for All was a success, yet we have over 16,000 people registered as homeless. By any measure, the Government's housing policies have been an abject failure. There are unprecedented amounts going into housing, but where are they going? They are going to developers on foot of the policy of this Government in respect of turnkey acquisitions as opposed to building dire…
-----with regard to workers and how to secure apprentices and bring them into the system. The Government has failed in that regard.
Absolutely not.
That is not true. It is factually incorrect.
Primary care psychology waiting lists are now up to a staggering 28,000. The figure for those waiting over a year is up to 16,000. In some parts of Dublin, children are waiting 13 years to be seen. That is not a waiting list; it is a non-existent service. My question is on recruitment. When we raise this issue, the Government throws its hands in the air and says the health service cannot get staff. That is not factua…
I move:
That Dáil Éireann:
recalls:
— the Labour Party Motion re Drugs Policy and Decriminalisation of the User, agreed by Dáil Éireann on 30th November, 2022;
— the report of the Citizens' Assembly on Drug Use, published in January 2024;
— the interim report of the Oireachtas Special Joint Committee on Drugs Use, published in October 2024; and
— the commitment in the Programme for Government to a health-led re…
-----often when it was not popular to be talking about it.
As a proud TD for Dublin Central and the communities of Dublin Central, it is unconscionable to me that we have people dying in our streets and in our communities from drugs overdoses and that Ireland has one of the highest number of drug-induced deaths when compared with every other country across the European Union. To me, it is the antithesis of our Repub…
I want to raise the publication of the national framework for the management of endometriosis in Ireland. This was an eagerly awaited report, with a huge weight of expectation, given the enormous failing of thousands of women with this desperately debilitating condition. There are welcome aspects to the report in terms of the greater commitment to investment and training, but endometriosis sufferers reading this repo…
They will not.
I welcome that we are having statements on men's health. I also acknowledge and pay tribute to Deputies Mark Ward and Seán Crowe for talking about their personal experiences. Leadership is important in terms of a lot of the things we are talking about, namely, breaking down the stigma that exists and helping people to overcome the inability to talk about their experiences. That inability is closely related to so many…
I want to start by expressing my deep shock and sadness at the passing of the young person and injury to others in an apartment in north Dublin yesterday. Obviously there is a criminal investigation and we are limited in what we can say, but there is an additional layer of sadness that this is an unaccompanied minor thousands of miles away from his family and community. As we understand it, this happened only days af…
There is a serious credibility issue here. We see it with regard to the underdelivery of the social housing targets and, indeed, what we are seeing now with regard to childcare places. This is an issue that was raised with the Department during the summer. I raised it last week, and we have seen no response, frankly, from the Department on these issues.
It is deadly serious for parents. Mothers are unable to return …
The arts and culture budget received an actual cut in budget 2026. It went from just above €300 million to under €300 million. There was a lot of fanfare about the basic income for the arts and that expansion is welcome. However, that fanfare has masked what is happening to arts and cultural funding, which is that there will be less next year than this year. Arts Council funding is crucial to supporting arts practice…
My Topical Issue relates to Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire and its new school building on Dominick Street in Dublin 1. I stood with Government Ministers and representatives from the school two and a half years ago when the sod was turned in June 2023. The school was supposed to be open in June 2025, but instead we have an empty building site. The Department of education terminated the contract for building works on 24 Ju…
I thank the Minister of State for conveying the written response from the Department. A lot of it is a copy-and-paste job of what was circulated in June of this year. To be very clear, there is no update in this response from the Department, that is zero update as to what is happening the new school building. There is no plan B apparent in the Minister of State's response here. For a school to have been told repeated…
But the Minister of State is not conveying the information here.
I express my concern about and thoughts for the individuals and staff in the care home in Donaghmede where a very serious incident happened earlier this afternoon.
It is a dangerous business in politics when you get people’s hopes up and overpromise and underdeliver. The reason we are here today is because of those commitments that the Tánaiste made when he was the Minister for Health back in 2017. I do not doubt th…
I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, to the Chamber. I note that we have mental health campaigners in the Gallery. They are all very welcome.
I welcome the opportunity to speak on World Mental Health Day. Enormous work is being done across the country by many groups, both informal and formal. Progress has been made on breaking the stigma in our communities in recent years. However, it is important to say that stigma is alive and well in workplaces and in the medical profession when people present with a long history of mental health conditions and then see…