Defining ‘key workers’ is divisive

THE Irish Examiner’s editorial of September 21, ‘Incentives needed for key workers’, laments the fact that “key workers” cannot afford to buy a house in Ireland’s towns and cities.

In your view, “key workers” includes certain public sector workers, but no one else — a puzzling position.

Why would a nurse at the hospital be a “key worker” but not the receptionist at the same hospital? If receptionists are “key workers” — including those in hospitals and in hotels — then why should the hospital and hotel delivery staff not be key workers, with their vital task of bringing supplies to the hospital and to the hotel?