Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Last September, a Bill to introduce the right to paid sick leave in this country was introduced in the Dáil. That Labour Party Bill on sick pay came after a summer with a series of outbreaks of Covid-19 in meat plants and other workplaces across the country. It came after workers told us that, in many instances, they could not afford to be out sick without pay. It came after Patricia King of Congress, Greg Ennis of SIPTU and many across the union movement pleaded for a system of paid sick leave in this country.

Our Bill sought to give workers access to paid sick leave from the first day of falling ill and on full pay. The Government at that time decided to postpone a vote for six months. I know it takes time to get good legislation right and I know consultation was needed, but the six months is now up, March is upon us, and we have heard zero inkling from the Government as to its intentions with regard to sick pay. It is interesting that, in that time, the US Government under Trump introduced a very comprehensive system of sick pay at the end of the December yet, here in this country, we are still waiting.

In that time, between August and 20 February, 1,681 workers across food workplaces and commercial workplaces were infected with Covid-19 and there were 391 outbreaks. We do not know how many of those cases would have been prevented because of paid sick leave, but we know the Chief Medical Officer and the clinical director of the HSE have said that the lack of paid sick leave in this country is a fundamental weakness in fighting Covid-19. The Irish Cancer Society also came out last week and said we need to have sick pay, so this is not just about Covid-19 and is about the world of work beyond. I want to hear what the Government is planning with regard to sick pay because workers cannot afford to wait.

On another issue, I listened on radio this morning to the news of a new variant of Covid-19, one that was first detected in Nigeria. I am very worried about the inclination to name a variant after where it was first detected. We have enough problems with racism in this country without exacerbating it because of a poor or lazy choice of language. I want to make a special appeal to health experts, to the Government and to all of us in the House that we use the actual terms for the variants – P1, 501Y, VOC 202012/01 or B1525. It is not beyond us to use the appropriate terms as opposed to labelling a country, because we know Covid-19 travels and it does not recognise borders. I think it is regrettable that, by calling it after the country where it is first detected, we are almost seeking to assign blame to those countries where the variant arose.