Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

On the issue of intensive care unit beds, will the Minister bring the number of intensive care unit beds in this State up to at least the EU average within a short time? There were 5.2 intensive care unit beds per 100,000 of the population in this State at the end of last year. The European Union average is 11.5 per 100,000 people. That is less than half. The recommended level of occupancy is 75% but in reality, the level of occupancy is 88% and in some units, it is 96%. Dr. Rory Dwyer, clinical lead of the Irish National Intensive Care Unit Audit said last year, "You can cope with sporadic cases but if there is a large number we will struggle to cope and probably won't." Dr. Michael O'Dwyer of St. Vincent's University Hospital stated that repeated calls he had made for increases in ICU beds had been ignored, that the HSE had its "head in the sand" and that the system here lacks surge capacity. There were 255 ICU beds in the system in 2019. The Minister gave information on an increase and any increase is welcome. The figure he mentioned was 20 but 20 is not adequate. I put it to the Minister for comment and reply that the number of ICU beds within the system here should be brought up to the EU average - in other words it should be more than doubled - within the space of one week. That would be an emergency response and I ask the Minister to respond to that. Beds and staff are needed in preparation for a potential emergency.

On sick pay and illness benefit, we have an absence of a comprehensive occupational sick pay system in this State. A previous Government increased the number of days which a worker must be absent from work before being eligible to apply for illness benefit from three days to six days. That was implemented by a Labour Party Minister in a Labour- Fine Gael Government. We have the phenomenon of presenteeism. There has been talk about absenteeism but there is also presenteeism where workers who are sick feel they have no choice in seeking to defend their precarious situations and their families but to go to work when sick or possibly sick, compromising their health, the health of their work colleagues, the health of the public and so on. We need to have a comprehensive occupational sick pay system that can immediately be accessed by workers, funded by a proper regime of employers' social insurance contributions and heavily weighted on the most profitable companies, that will cover a worker who is ill, who needs to self-isolate or who needs to care for his or her children or family members.

The example of the nurses is the best practice. Their unions have negotiated an arrangement with the HSE whereby there is already an existing sick pay scheme but they would have sick leave on full pay if they self-isolate. The National Bus and Rail Union has correctly said that should apply for public transport workers and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has rightly said it should apply for all workers. I add my voice to the calls from those unions.

The cuts in the illness benefit arrangement that were made in 2012 by the then Minister, Joan Burton, must be immediately reversed.

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