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Organisations working with the homeless are appealing to Government to extend the €1,000 Covid recognition payment to their frontline workers, saying they risked their lives and health during the pandemic, just as HSE and nursing-home workers did.
Dublin Simon, Merchants Quay Ireland, Crosscare, Depaul and Focus Ireland are among charities expressing “huge disappointment” their ‘coal-face’ workers remain excluded from the payment.
The ‘pandemic special recognition payment’, announced in January, is a tax-free lump sum payable to frontline healthcare workers, who were “working in Covid-19 healthcare environments”.
In a circular to HSE workplaces issued on 19th April, the executive’s national director of human resources Anne Marie Hoey, explains the payment is in recognition of “the particular additional risks they faced in the performance of their normal duty during the pandemic”.
Catherine Kenny, chair of the Dublin Homeless Network, says its members were “operating relentlessly as health care settings” having been “directed” by the HSE and the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) to remain open.
As well as accommodating thousands of homeless people, many of whom were cocooning, their nursing staff were Covid testing and administering vaccinations, while others provided counselling, sanitation, and, needle and crack-pipe exchanges.
Mortality rate
In a letter to the ministers for health, housing, public expenditure, and, employment, dated 28th January - when details of the payment were being drawn up - Ms Kenny said the work of frontline homelessness staff kept the mortality rate among the homeless to a minimum.
“The commitment of our staff in supporting the most vulnerable in our society, despite the risk to themselves, should be recognised along with other frontline workers,” says Ms Kenny.
Heather Howell is manager of the 51-bed Carman’s Hall emergency accommodation in Dublin’s south inner-city, provided by Dublin Simon. It accommodated 32 homeless people during the pandemic.
In a letter to Taoiseach, Michael Martin, dated 31st March, she asks: “Why was I putting my life at risk here? What makes my sacrifices different?
“For nearly a month in the summer of 2020 myself and others did not see our families directly. We worked 12-hour and sometimes 24-hour shifts to ensure that homeless clients, identified as a high-risk, vulnerable cohort by the HSE, were as comfortable as we could make them,” she says.
Rules about mask-wearing and social distancing caused tensions, she said. People with mental health and addiction issues who were without face-to-face counselling appointments, or who wanted to move around or leave, could become highly agitated.
“Our hands were raw from scrubbing…One staff member had not hugged her young kids in four weeks. She stayed elsewhere throughout this time because she could not cope with going home…Some of us did not have Christmas at home in 2020.” Her letter is co-signed by Sam McGuinness, Dublin Simon chief executive.
Recognition payment
Merchants Quay Ireland supporting the call for the Covid recognition payment, said: “The commitment of our staff in supporting the most vulnerable in our society, despite the risk to themselves, ensured the wellbeing of those who depend on our services.”
In a statement the Department of Health said the Government was “mindful of other workers who played their own part during this difficult period in sustaining other services.
“In recognition of the efforts of all workers, volunteers, and the general public during the Covid-19 pandemic, and in remembrance of people who lost their lives due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government announced a public holiday which took place on 18 March 2022.
“From February next year there will also be a new permanent public holiday established to mark Imbolc/St Brigid’s Day.”