Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Approximately 16% of people who are at work are covered by the medical card, so that would need to be much broader. The committee was grappling with this point. The Tánaiste mentioned that we are an outlier, which we are in terms of not having a statutory sick pay scheme, but we are also an outlier in that the vast majority of people have to pay to go to their GP. In the absence of access to GP care without cost, or without a cost to the individual going there, it is unfair to put that in place. In the countries the Tánaiste is referring to where certification is required on the first day as part of a statutory sick pay scheme, those workers have access to a GP that they do not have to fund out of their own pockets. That is where the problem is. It could be that a short-term solution is required while we await the establishment of a GP service that is free at the point of delivery. We are not there yet and we are not nearly there, so the fact is there will be workers who have to make that decision. The Tánaiste and I both agree that sick pay is an important instrument of public health but it cannot only be for people who can afford to access the GP while we wait for GP services that are free at the point of delivery to be introduced.

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