Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I regret that the opportunity was not taken during the Celtic tiger years to build a structure of contributions by employees and employers to offer the social protections to which most of us aspire. It is unfortunate these reforms were not made when the money was available. Fianna Fáil in government signed the EU-IMF deal this time last year. The troika has been investigating the areas in which our structures differ from those in other countries. Several countries have social protection systems that we would envy to share the burden because the important aspect is managing absences in a way that makes provision for those who are ill, while reducing the taking of illness leave unnecessarily. This can apply in the public as well as the private sector.

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