Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. The next issue I wish to raise concerns correspondence I have received via the Irish Cancer Society. This body wrote to the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty, with whom I intended to raise the matter directly today. The Irish Cancer Society stated:

It has come to our attention that a number of cancer patients who have been advised to cocoon are not entitled to the COVID-19 Enhanced Illness Benefit payment of €350 per week... the Irish Cancer Society is asking [the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection], in consultation with your colleagues Ministers Harris and Donohoe, to address this anomaly by amending regulations in order to extend the COVID-19 enhanced Illness Benefit payment to those unable to work during the Covid-19 pandemic on the advice of the Government and/or a medical practitioner.

To be fair to the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, the Irish Cancer Society received a quite sympathetic response:

Employees who cocoon without a medical certificate may approach their employer in relation to taking annual or other paid leave - this is at the discretion of the employer. The government has encouraged employers to support workers with leave requests.

The core point here is this. I am not looking for exceptional treatment for any sector in society. However, some people who are undergoing cancer treatment at the moment are not in a position to use up any more leave or to go back to work even though work is available for them. I ask the Minister to have regard to the Irish Cancer Society's correspondence with the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and at least bear the matter in mind when considering the possible extension of the temporary Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme and the Covid-19 enhanced illness benefit.

That is the first point. I wish to make another very brief point about the continuation of the temporary Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme. We have recently heard from the Irish Hotels Federation and the National Campaign for the Arts, as well as an organisation called the Event Production Industry Covid-19 working group, which consists of stakeholders in the entertainment sector, organisers of outdoor concerts and so on.

They have all corresponded with us to request that the wage subsidy scheme and the Covid-19 payments be extended. I again ask the Minister whether he will give consideration to that. They are the sectors that will be the last to come on stream. The EPIC group, particularly in the case of outdoor concerts, includes engineers, riggers and other seasonal workers. They are asking that their concerns be addressed.

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