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

I should say that as the House will be aware and as is always the case with any workers rights legislation, this legislation is the minimum floor. It will not prevent employers having superior sick pay schemes to that which is required by law and that will happen in many cases. There will be employers who will not require a sick certificate for the first day or may only require it for the second or third day. However, to actually require an employer in law to give somebody paid sick leave without any evidence would not be right or fair and it would change it from being sick leave to being a different form of leave. I just do not think that would be the right thing to do.

The solution to this is through the GMS medical card system. At the moment, about 40% of people in the country either have a medical card or a doctor visit card, so those on the lowest incomes currently do not have to pay to see their doctor. I appreciate there are people on low pay who do not qualify for a medical card or a doctor visit card, and the Deputy and I encounter them all of the time in our work as constituency Deputies. To me, the solution is improving the eligibility limits and making more people eligible for the doctor visit card and the medical card, rather than requiring employers to pay sick pay to somebody who does not produce evidence that they are sick.

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