Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

Further consultation on this issue was signalled in the budget speech of the Minister for Finance. As the Deputy knows, illness benefit comes from the social insurance fund, which is funded by PRSI contributions from employers and employees and by the Government and administered by the Department of Social Protection. Exchequer spending on illness benefit more than doubled in the ten years from 2001 to 2011, from €330 million to €876 million, while the number claiming went up by 40%. Policy responsibility for the administration of illness benefit falls within the remit of the Minister for Social Protection, who held the first initial consultative forum meeting on her proposals yesterday to consider the feasibility and potential impacts of introducing a statutory sick pay scheme in Ireland. This is very much a first step towards considering a range of issues that need to be examined in detail before any proposals can be suggested or progressed to possible implementation.

The Minister clearly indicated that this is the beginning of a consultative process and that nothing has been decided yet. Forfás attended the Minister's initial consultative forum yesterday and commented that any proposal that would increase costs for business would be of concern, and that further work was required to assess the potential costs of this proposal for enterprise, how these costs might be borne across enterprise sectors, what implications these costs might have for employment, and what other actions could be taken to achieve the required goals.

I have also seen the initial reactions of business representative bodies to the proposals and I understand their concerns about the cost a statutory sick pay scheme could impose on businesses. For this reason, the issue of increased costs needs to be more fully researched and considered.

The OECD has raised concerns that the duration of illness benefit in Ireland is currently two years, although the average in the OECD is a year or less. It also noted that many people with frequent sickness absences tend to drift from sickness into the disability benefit system, which is bad for the individuals and families concerned. A related worrying trend that was commented on at the forum yesterday is that more and more young people are going from the sickness benefit system to the disability system. We need to ensure our young people can find suitable employment in the economy, with any disability needs facilitated, and that they are productive members of our society.

The Deputy also raised many other issues, including the redundancy scheme. These are really the subject of another debate, but I must point out that the State picking up 60% of the redundancy costs of employers is not something that is common in other countries. There is no such facility in most countries, and Ireland is unusual in having to shoulder the cost of redundancy in that way. Clearly, the Government's aim is not to fund redundancy, which involves the loss of employment, but to seek to support schemes that create and sustain employment. As the Deputy acknowledges, the priority of the Government is to support the creation and protection of employment, which is a major challenge to our community.

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