Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to address Part 8 which concerns changes to the Redundancy Payments Act 1967. The provisions set out in section 12 of that Act provide that an employee who has been temporarily laid off or kept on short term for four consecutive weeks has an entitlement to claim redundancy from his or her employer. It is clear to all sides of the House that these provisions were not designed to deal with the situation we are now facing.

In section 27 we are providing that these arrangements will not apply during this emergency period. As we are only too well aware, one of the impacts of Covid-19, and the measures we have had to take to address this pandemic, is that there has been an immediate and significant volume of temporary lay-offs in our country. There is a very real possibility that these lay-offs and short-term working arrangements may have to be extended for a protracted period. We are seeking to deal with that reality through the wage subsidy scheme which I addressed earlier and through a range of enhanced income supports being provided through the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. If we leave section 12 of the Redundancy Act 1967 as it stands we could potentially face mass redundancies in a short time. Then the financial impact of mass redundancies would have a disastrous effect on the potential for business to recover when we emerge from the crisis we are now in. All that this would lead to is insolvent and bankrupt enterprises and more job losses. Section 27 of this Bill suspends the relevant provisions of the 1967 Act for the period 13 March-31 May. If it proves to be necessary, and I hope that it will not, the period could be extended. I want to stress, however, in the clearest terms that an employee's right to claim redundancy after a temporary period of lay-off or short-term work is not being removed. It is simply being curtailed for a temporary period in this emergency situation. This has to be seen in light of the income subsidy scheme that the earlier part of this Bill introduces.

Part 9 of the Bill concerns the civil registration process. The aim of these amendments is quite straightforward. It is to ensure that the civil registration service can continue to operate effectively throughout the duration of the emergency. The amendments proposed here will ensure that births and deaths can continue to be registered during this crisis. The House will know that it is important that this service is available to ensure continued access, in particular for child benefit payments. Medical cards for children are also dependent on registration of a birth. Equally, the continued ability to register a death will allow a joint account holder to have access to accounts that are held jointly with the deceased in a situation where the authorisation of both account holders is ordinarily required. Currently a person registering a life event is required to attend in person before a registrar and to sign the register in the presence of the registrar. This would be very difficult to do in situations where citizens are being asked to self-isolate and maintain physical distancing. To address this measures are being introduced in sections 30 and 31 of the Bill to remove temporarily the obligation to attend the registration office in person to register a birth or a death and to sign the register. From an operational point of view the intention is that the particulars required for a registration can be submitted by email or by post and that the signature can be captured subsequently when the current emergency situation has come to an end. This, therefore, is only a temporary measure in order to ensure that where local registry services become unavailable the Registrar General will have the power to appoint members of his own staff to perform these functions on a temporary basis pending recovery of the local registration service. These are a few measures that have been taken to ensure that we can discharge our fundamental public services to citizens but in a different way and at a different time, and the measures in respect of the rights of workers have to be seen in the light of the income subsidy scheme brought in under the early part of this Bill.

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