Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 4 May 2022

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Sick Leave Bill 2022: Committee Stage

Photo of Matt ShanahanMatt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to follow on from Deputy Bruton's point on balance. I said at meetings of this committee before that I have a slight problem at times with some of the narration on employers. I believe it was Deputy Paul Murphy who said it is the employees who are creating all the wealth. Employers have to put the structures together for productivity to happen. There is a balance to be struck. I am certainly on the side of employees but we must remember what Deputy Bruton just alluded to: one has to be cognisant of what is going on in the economy. We are trying to do something now that we have not done before, namely, introduce a statutory sick-pay scheme for all workers. I welcome that but do not subscribe to the idea that we can just ramp up year on year without being cognisant of what is happening in the economy and the headwinds that businesses are facing.

To return to a point I made earlier, small and medium enterprises, which employ close to a million people in this country, are not being properly spoken for here. As public sector workers who get our increments, it is very easy for us to go into the Dáil and vote further expenditure into the pot to pay for the costs. That does not happen in the private sector; in the private sector, one has to try to create a business margin wherever possible. When margins are affected by increased costs, it is very difficult to combat. When the Government says one must take on increased costs again that will impinge upon margins, we have to be mindful that it is a competitiveness issue. We have built very efficient companies in this country because we are agile; however, when the public sector and public policy require new machinations for businesses that will add to their costs, it is a concern for them. We have to be mindful of that. Therefore, I believe that what is in the legislation, which is that the Minister must have regard to all the headwinds affecting competition and cannot just have a statutory increase of two, three or four days year on year, represents sound business and fiscal policy.

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