Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the people of Dún Laoghaire for electing me. I am honoured to represent them in this historic Chamber and I look forward to doing everything I can to represent Dún Laoghaire. I also thank the various Deputies with whom I have spent time in recent weeks from the four parties that the Green Party has met. That has been a very useful first step. I look forward to meeting Deputies from Solidarity, if they will meet me, and Independent Deputies. We are willing to speak with everybody and look forward to that process.

So far, Ireland has nine confirmed cases of the coronavirus. The advice from the World Health Organization is that people who get these symptoms and self-diagnose in the belief that they have this illness should isolate themselves for 14 days.

If a person working in a large company like Google wakes up in the morning with a bit of a dry cough, not feeling himself or herself and with a fever, that person knows that he or she can ring in and be allowed to work from home. That person knows that he or she will get full pay, that the whole building will probably be sent home also, and that there will be no negative consequences for him or her. This, however, is not the case if a person is working in a job where he or she must serve the people who work in a company like Google, and where he or she must handle food - perhaps in a sandwich bar -work behind a bar or operate a checkout. A person's job may involve handling food, handling money and credit cards, and dealing with hundreds of people every day. It is obviously critical that such people stay at home when they are ill, but how can they? They are in a situation where if they do not earn money or do not bring home enough money, they cannot pay their rent. They cannot make the decision. There is no sick pay guaranteed for people in that situation who need it the most. There is illness benefit from the Government, which kicks in after seven days. Except, it does not kick in. After seven days one can apply for it. If one has enough PRSI stamps, one might get it. However, people do not know if they qualify. How can a person gamble on that future on the first day he or she displays symptoms? If that person it wrong and does not get the money, then he or she may not have enough money to pay the rent and may leave himself or herself and his or her family homeless. This situation is utterly unfair, and it also puts society at risk.

I ask that the Minister speak with the Taoiseach and with the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection in order to work out a way for people who find themselves in that situation, and possibly with the symptoms, so that they know they will receive their net pay until they are tested and it is found that they are well enough to go back to work. They need to be given a clear assurance, through an advertising campaign or some form of communication everybody can understand, that the right thing to do is not to go to work that day, and that it is feasible and possible to do this. This would be in the interests of the workers and in the general interest.

There are very good communications from the Chief Medical Officer and the HSE every day advising people about the status of this coronavirus. They are generalised communications and contain the same information for everybody. There are, however, some groups in our society that are looking for specific information. We are told that if a person does not have a breathing problem and is not an elderly person, then he or she may be fine if he or she gets coronavirus. This is no reassurance for people who do have those problems. People who have underlying breathing problems and illnesses such as cystic fibrosis or a rare breathing illness like bronchiectasis need specific information. They need to have a portion of the website that explains to them if there is something different they should do. Perhaps their behaviour should be different from that of the general population. Perhaps they should avoid crowded situations. They do not know, and they are asking for that information. Will the Minister consider appointing one person as a contact for those vulnerable groups to give them their information? I thank the Ceann Comhairle and I thank the Members for listening.

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