Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This section provides for an increase in the waiting period for entitlement to illness benefit from three days to six, with the change to take effect from January 2014. I understand this will result in a saving of some €22 million, but it also places another burden on small businesses by transferring the cost of sick pay onto them. There are 200,000 small businesses in Ireland employing more than 655,000 people. It is a key sector of the economy. Many of these jobs are in the retail and hospitality sectors, where employee costs account for more than 60% of total costs. These small companies do not have the flexibility to move staff around when one employee is out sick and, as such, this measure will act as a barrier to future employment in those areas.

The Minister has made comparisons with the systems in place in other jurisdictions to support her arguments, but some of those comparisons do not stand up to scrutiny. In the case of Northern Ireland, for example, while employers do make the initial sick pay payment, this can be offset against their PAYE tax bill at a later date. In addition, it has less of an immediate cashflow implication as the weekly payment is just £81.60 for 28 weeks, compared with €188 per week for two years in this State. As various representative groups have argued, extending the waiting period from three to six days means that people will be stretching their money and what limited funds they have to a point where it becomes an intolerable financial burden.