Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I reassure the Deputy I have had many opportunities to meet business groups and employers of various sized businesses throughout the country. I emphasise that any proposal applies as much to the public sector as the private sector. I am very conscious of the need to maintain competitiveness, facilitate business growth and opportunities, generate sustainable employment and maintain the employment we have. I do not accept that introducing a statutory sick pay scheme would necessarily lead to greater job insecurity in the private sector. We are the only OECD country with our particular structure. According to our proposals, the three day waiting period which applies at present in respect of illness benefit would also apply in any statutory sick pay scheme introduced.

Another question is whether we need to provide possible compensatory mechanisms for particularly vulnerable employers, including the type of SME referred to by the Deputy. This needs to be addressed and taken into account before any decision can be made by the Government. The difficulty is that illness benefit is paid from a social insurance fund which was in deficit to the tune of €1.5 billion last year and this year it will be €1.82 billion short. The fund from which statutory benefits are paid, and which we all want to keep intact following our earlier discussion, is short of money by a considerable degree. We must address how to restore stability to the social insurance fund over a period of time. It will stabilise enormously as employment returns to the economy but it is the mechanism by which we make payments such as jobseeker's benefit, contributory old age pensions and significant amounts in sickness benefit.

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