Dr. Laura Bambrick:

The Deputy started off by talking about labour costs and that we have to remember that we are an open economy. I accept that. We have to remember that our cost of labour, our national minimum wage, is driven by two factors. The first is the costs of goods and services, and business charges, which we know are high. The second is the size of the social wage, which is very low in Ireland. The social wage is the cost of education, healthcare and public transport. The reason it is so low is that we spend, on average, approximately €3,500 less per person than comparative EU countries. The reason for that is that our intake from employer social insurance is comparatively low. If we do not take in more in employer's social insurance contributions to fund the social wage, the cost of wages is driven up. The cost is being paid, one way or the other. Investing more in the social wage will keep us competitive and introducing statutory sick pay is not lose-lose for business.

I am not responding in particular to what the Deputy just mentioned but we have heard a lot about absenteeism, moral hazards and how to ensure that people are not abusing the system. It is one of the great paradoxes that the more generous statutory sick pay is, either in terms of replacement rates or in the low number of waiting days, the lower the level of absenteeism. That might sound counter-intuitive but the reason is that if people get the opportunity to get themselves better when they have a small ailment, it stops the sickness or illness from festering and becoming a bigger health issue, thus necessitating more time off.

As I mentioned in my earlier contribution, statutory sick pay is normal practice across our European partners, including Northern Ireland and the UK.

They also have small businesses. They also have micro-businesses. They also have to remain competitive. They also care about absenteeism. All these matters have been dealt with successfully and we can learn from that.