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

As a serious policy point, I get the dilemma and I hear what the Deputy is saying. I really think the solution is not in paying sick pay to people who do not have to produce any evidence that they are sick. The solution is in improving access to GP care and healthcare, and raising the eligibility limits. It is not 40% of workers but 40% of people who receive free GP care in Ireland. We can improve that and we can raise the eligibility limits or, alternatively, we can use the treatment benefits system to perhaps recoup some of the costs of attending a GP in the way that is done for a dentist, for example, or an optician.

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