Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

13. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the responsibilities of employers in cases in which an employee contracts Covid-19 in the workplace; the duties of care in relation to same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5243/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Work Safely Protocol sets out the minimum public health measures required for every place of work to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to facilitate the re-opening of workplaces following temporary closures and the ongoing safe operation of workplaces.

In instances where an employee begins to show symptoms of infection with COVID-19 while at work, or an employer is made aware of an employee’s infection, the Work Safely Protocol provides detailed guidance on how this should be managed by the employer in order to protect other members of the workforce. This guidance includes taking action such as isolating the worker and arranging transport home or to hospital for medical assessment if required. An employer must also carry out an assessment of the incident and arrange for appropriate cleaning of all work areas involved and co-operate with the Department of Public Health or HSE in relation to contact tracing. The full Work Safely Protocol is available on www.enterprise.ie 

Separately, the recently introduced Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Biological Agents) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 539 of 2020), now place greater reporting requirements on employers in relation to categories of workers exposed to Biological Agents in the course of their normal work activities including exposure to SARS-CoV-2, the agent responsible for COVID-19. The Regulations now cover several specific types of work activities which were previously not covered by the Biological Agents Regulations. 

Employees can contract COVID-19 through occupational exposure to the virus, for example, in a research laboratory or incidentally from work activities which by their nature involve potential specific exposure to the virus, for example, working with a COVID-19 patient, handling infected waste or carrying out diagnostic testing for COVID-19 in a laboratory. Under the Biological Agents Regulations where a person’s work activity involves occupational exposure to SARS-COV-2 an employer must carry out a specific “biological agent” risk assessment and, also, has reporting requirements where infection has been acquired by the employee. 

The Health and Safety Authority is currently carrying out a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) to support consideration of a proposal by the Board of the Health and Safety Authority to require employers to report cases of Covid-19 that are attributable to work activity to the Authority. This RIA will identify a range of possible options around this proposal including detailed information on the costs, benefits and impacts of each option. This information will provide the Board with a basis for a recommendation to be made to the Minister for the most appropriate way forward.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

14. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his plans for the resumption of click and collect services for non-essential retail due to the disproportionate impact on smaller Irish based independent retailers during level 5 restrictions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5272/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Under Level 5 of the Plan for Living with COVID-19, only essential retail outlets will remain open.  Further information can be found on https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/2dc71-level-5/.  The decision to move to full scale Level 5 was not taken lightly and all factors were considered. All measures in Level 5 will stay in place until at least March 5 2021.

S.I. No. 701 of 2020 Health Act 1947 (Section 31A - Temporary Restrictions) (COVID-19) (No. 10) Regulations 2020 and S.I. No. 4 of 2021 Health Act 1947 (Section 31A - Temporary Restrictions) (COVID-19) (No. 10) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 () clearly sets out the temporary restrictions under Level 5. A list of essential services can be found at and the list of essential retail outlets at Level 5 can be found at

Level 5 does not restrict people from purchasing any product, it does however restrict people from physically going into non-essential stores.  This is to stop people making unnecessary journeys, congregating and browsing for non-essential goods, to limit the spread of the virus.

Under the current temporary restrictions click and collect, from non-essential retail outlets is no longer permitted. Click or phone and deliver will continue. 

We are asking retailers to fully get behind the spirit of the regulations. In particular, we are asking retailers with mixed retail offering, which have discrete spaces for essential and non-essential retail to make arrangements for the separation of relevant areas.

An Garda Síochána are engaging with retailers and enforcing the regulations where necessary.

We are asking retailers to operate staggered opening and closing hours, as well as facilitating starting and finishing hours, in order to minimise the impact on public transport and to continue to provide dedicated hours for vulnerable customers.

My colleague Minister English has met regularly with Retail Forum members and representatives from the retail, grocery and distribution sector to continuously assess adherence to the public health restrictions.

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) ‘The Work Safely Protocol’ incorporates the current advice on the Public Health measures needed to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the community and workplaces. The Protocol is available on www.gov.ie. The HSA is the lead agency in overseeing compliance with the Protocol in the workplace.  If employers or employees need further guidance on the Protocol, the HSA Helpline can be contacted at 1890 289 389 or wcu@hsa.ie

In addition, the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) have also produced two guidance documents, one for the retail Sector and one for Shopping Centres. Both documents can be found on www.nsai.ie

The Government has introduced a wide range of supports to help businesses impacted by the COVID-19 crisis and they can be found on my Department’s website

I would like to thank retailers and their customers for their efforts at this difficult time. By each of us following the spirit of these new rules and working together we can hopefully return to a lower level of the Living with COVID-19 framework.