Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I thank Senator Sherlock for her considerable work on the Sick Leave and Parental Leave (Covid-19) Bill 2020 which recently went through Second Stage in the Dáil and for her work in preparing the motion. When a government has no moral argument against a proposal, it seeks to kick it down the road. Unfortunately, that seems to be the approach being taken in the Seanad this evening. The issue will be given a further kick along the wrong road to be dealt with in six months' time or longer, as my colleagues stated.

Irish workers have no legal right to be paid by their employer when absent from work because of illness. Whether to pay sick pay is entirely the decision of the employer. There is no legal obligation on an employer to so do. The comments of Dr. Ronan Glynn, who was until recently the acting Chief Medical Officer, CMO, have been mentioned and it is important to revisit them. He recently stated that the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, had recommended to the Government that whatever measure needs to be put in place should be put in place to ensure that workers who are sick can afford not to attend work. He effectively stated that the introduction of sick pay was important to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and recommended several weeks ago that the Government take action. So far, the Government has done nothing except to say it will launch a consultation process. The can is ready for another kicking.

There is no doubt that we are all in this together but, unfortunately, there are those who are more in it than most. I refer to those working in meat plants in particular and those who are left with no option but to continue going to work while sick. In every interview given by the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, in recent days regarding moving to a new level of restrictions, he cited the success of interventions in County Kildare, my county. The real issue in County Kildare and the major cause of the outbreak came from meat factories and the fact that those workers went to work while sick because there was no sick pay scheme of which they could avail. I am sure all Senators are aware of the stories of workers using Calpol and other medication to lower their temperature to ensure they could go to work and afford the basics of life, such as food and rent.

The Labour Party motion is trying to address that issue and help those workers to afford the basics when they are sick. Many such workers are front-line workers who are essential in so many ways. An equally important aim of the motion is to try to protect those workers' communities and the wider public and stop the spread of this dreadful disease. I ask Members to support the motion and leave the can alone for another day. Let us bring in a sick pay scheme that will help to fight Covid and protect the most vulnerable workers and their communities.