Unions say healthcare staff have a unique claim for pandemic compensation.
They have called for all HSE staff to get bonus pay or bonus leave to recognise their work in fighting Covid.
The government has said the cost of this could reach up to €1 billion if it were applied to all public sector staff.
But Tony Fitzpatrick from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation says healthcare staff faced additional risks:
"I think everyone's contribution, the general public, workers out there, the common man and woman who wore the green jersey with regards to response to the pandemic, I think they've been let by politicians. But the reality is that we represent healthcare workers. They had an additional risk. These health care workers had to go into the eye of the storm and deal with those issues and we believe they should have special recognition."
