Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O'Reilly for bringing forward this Bill. Not every worker can work from home. Those in meat factories, retail, healthcare and childcare services need to go into work but, unfortunately, some of those places have seen significant clusters. We have been asking the Minister of State for far too long to take the simple step to protect workers' rights and workers. We should not be wasting time. All we need is the Tánaiste to come into the House and give his signature but, once again, we will be waiting on Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party, which is falling down with regard to workers' rights.

There is no provision for the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, to be made available for childcare workers or workers who are high risk and cannot work. I was contacted by a lady who is 28 weeks' pregnant. She is concerned about the Covid protections in the childcare centre where she works. As she said, she cannot social distance from a toddler. She has checked the HSE guidelines in regard to pods but there are no rules against pods or staff mixing. They are not wearing masks because masks are seen as a barrier to care. Recently, her doctor informed her that she is at high risk of contracting Covid-19 due to complications in her pregnancy. I contacted the Minister for Social Protection but was told this lady would not qualify for the PUP and the best she could hope for was a supplementary welfare allowance of €201 a week.

The University of Limerick recently found that one in three childcare workers wants to leave the sector within the next year. Who can blame them when this is how they are being treated? We need protections against Covid-19 in the workplace and the employer needs to be responsible and act responsibly. When they make their employees attend offices unnecessarily and do not put in the proper protections in the workplace, when employees get sick or when clusters of Covid rip through workplace, that is not the workers' fault. It is the fault of employers who do not put the proper protections in place to protect workers and their staff. We need to see real protection for workers, especially during this pandemic. I thank Deputy O'Reilly again for bringing forward this Bill.

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