Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We absolutely accept that this Bill will improve things. It should not be left unsaid that this is a welcome move by the Government. We are working constructively to try to improve it. However, it is a hell of a thing to worry about getting sick if you are in a low-paid job and you are genuinely terrified that you might be unwell because you cannot afford to be unwell and therefore you might hide that sickness and go to work because you cannot afford a dip in the wages or the costs that you would accrue for attending a GP. It is a hell of a thing to be that worried, looking at your children or at your bills and knowing that you just cannot afford to get sick. That is why we are bringing forward these amendments. Our fear is that this may be an underutilised provision because people just do not feel that it protects them enough so they go to work sick, hiding their sickness, pretending that they are okay, coughing in secret, telling people they are fine if they are asked, because the protections that are being brought in for them will just not work. Over a period, we may find, through the Department's analysis, that it did not work for the people that it needs to work for most. Those are the low paid, vulnerable workers in insecure work often exploited, who are disproportionately women, migrant workers and young people. We should, therefore, be trying to eliminate the fear in a household or a that person. That is why we put forward these amendments. I absolutely appreciate that employers have fears about their businesses but we live in a country with a low-pay epidemic and one which does not provide basic healthcare in terms of free GP care that other countries just take for granted. That is why we feel so strongly about these amendments.