Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am very proud to support the Labour Party's Bill. I believe that sick pay is a moral imperative. It was a moral imperative before Covid-19 but it is absolutely one now. While we can look back to say, "Why was this not done earlier?", we can do it now. We are not reinventing the wheel. Despite the Tánaiste's comments in The Irish Timestoday, as long as these provisions are not enacted, the lack of statutory sick pay will remain a fundamental weakness in our all-out fight to defeat this awful virus. As colleagues said, Ireland is the outlier on this issue. This issue is being addressed in 22 nations of the European Union and is being legislated for. It is not rocket science. There are no fundamental issues that cannot be addressed during the debate on Committee Stage and as the measures pass through the Houses, if they need to be corrected.

Ireland is among the small minority of five EU nations yet to provide for statutory sick pay. Work is a bargain between employer and employee. In my judgment, the bargain goes well beyond a transactional arrangement to simply provide an agreed amount of cash for hours worked. There is a bond. In return for a person's work and labour, if that person becomes ill, surely the responsible employer will wish to support that employee and loyal worker to ensure he or she is provided for and can come speedily back to work.

The Government amendment I read last night is a device we have seen previously. When a Government has no moral argument to make against a proposal, it seeks to kick it down the road. The last time I remember this device being used was when I introduced the Labour Party's Civil Unions Bill 2006. Members might recall that this Bill was to recognise same-sex civil partnerships. It was as far as we could go at that time, pending constitutional change. We made the argument that there was no counterargument with any substance at the time. Because the Government of the day was bereft of any argument to oppose the Bill and were politically afraid to defeat the Bill, it tabled a delaying amendment, crafted exactly like the amendment presented yesterday. The need for these measures is now.

There is a requirement for the protection of workers in this regard. I listened to the sympathy expressed by the Minister for Justice and Equality but sympathy is of little value to the people who have contacted her and who have contacted my office. These are families, for example, who have a sick child and whose employer wants them to stay away from work. They need a statutory buffer to ensure basic household needs are met as they do the right thing and so there is not incredible pressure of them to go into work when they might extend the life of the virus and infecting their work colleagues. That is not what we need now. The requirement for this legal and new right, enjoyed by most citizens in the European Union, is now.

I ask the Government to reconsider what I regard as a cynical amendment, and to allow the Bill to pass Second Stage this week in order that we can tease out any concerns and have any bilateral discussions that are required on Committee Stage, before the Bill becomes law having passed through this House and the Seanad. Let us please support this important and vital measure.

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