Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I will have to defer to the Minister, Deputy McGrath, on the public sector side. What was in the budget was the reduction in the number of days to wait for illness benefit from six days to three days. This benefits employees and employers. If people are sick for any reason other than Covid they will now qualify for illness benefit on the fourth day rather than the seventh day, which was the case previously. I intend to bring it back to one or two days next year. This will benefit employees who are sick for reasons other than Covid. If they are sick because of Covid they will qualify for the pandemic illness benefit.

It will also be beneficial to employers who do pay sick pay because it means they can now reclaim more of that sick pay from the Social Insurance Fund. One of the reasons employers pay PRSI is so they can reclaim from the Social Insurance Fund.

We do need to share the cost. The Labour Party's Bill is well-intentioned but it puts the entire cost on the employer. If somebody is out for six weeks the employer would have to pay that person and hire another person to cover the absence. This could be very expensive for a very small employer. It is only fair that the costs should be shared.

See this speech in context