Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted and shone a light on the issue of sick pay and the continuation of income for families throughout the country. The Bill seeks to amend the existing sick pay legislation on the basis that we need to give entitlement to people who cannot attend work on grounds of force majeureor whose children are unable to attend school or preschool services for Covid-19 reasons. Its principle is very commendable, in that it will maintain income streams for families who otherwise would fear being absent from work or would find themselves in circumstances such as those ably described by other Deputies. We all accept that.

We need to protect families in these uncertain times but, at the same time, the question arises as to who will pay for this. Is it expected that employers, which are currently hanging on by a thread, will have to pay for it? Small businesses such as those that have been in contact with me over the past six months and that are making decisions daily as to how to keep their doors open and their employees at work cannot now be faced with another cost to business. They cannot be expected to foot the cost of this. We all agree the current supports do not bridge the gap; we need to put in more supports. The small business sector, examples of which we all know throughout the country, employs people, who create the economy. If we are to frighten such businesses by putting more and more obstructions in their way, we will find that more and more businesses will close. We need to respect the circumstances of business people, especially those in the small sector. We can always talk about the beef barons but not every employer is a beef baron or a person full of wealth. Many people working in business at the moment and employing people are not making any money and are probably not even drawing a wage for themselves. We need to respect their circumstances too. If this legislation is to be successful, we need to know that the gap in sick pay benefit will be met by the State.

I listened with interest earlier to the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, stating her intention to talk to employers and trade unions. That is the proper way to deal with this. We do not need a knee-jerk reaction whereby we bury more business people. In the interim, however, we need to ensure that people who are affected by Covid and cannot go to work will be taken care of. I plead with the Government to ensure that interim measures will be put in place in order that nobody is left without money to put food on the table during these times.

I reiterate that the main idea of the Bill is commendable but what we need to do is to ensure that people who are suffering are taken into account by the State right now and that any gaps in payment are met by it. We can look at sick pay benefit into the future after that.

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