Dr. Sharon McGuinness:

I thank the Deputy for her question. The idea of an occupational illness acquired in the workplace is one thing but being attributable to work is another aspect of all of the considerations we have regard to in the Act. Even the HSE in its earlier statement said that certain cases can be attributed directly to work and that is what should be reported and recorded.

On the data that we receive through the public health computerised infectious disease reporting system, CIDR, we already have the high level element of what is happening in a workplace in the numbers of workers who will have contracted Covid-19. This allows us to respond appropriately in those aspects. In that respect we are supportive of looking at and ensuring that employers and others are clear as to what is attributable to work and how they can report that fully and legitimately. That is already in play in the biological agents regulations, as I have already said, but equally, we are looking at it in the wider context for other workplaces through the regulatory impact analysis that is ongoing.