Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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533.To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment when he commissioned the ESRI research on the impact of statutory sick leave; the scope of this research; the methodology; the timeline for completion; and any other information on the research he will review before deciding on any further increases in statutory sick days. [30879/24]

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Sick Leave Act 2022 provided an initial statutory entitlement to up to 3 days’ employer-paid sick leave in 2023. This increased to 5 days on 1 January 2024. The sick leave entitlement could potentially increase to 7 days in 2025, reaching 10 days in 2026. A Ministerial Order to give effect to any decision to vary the number of sick leave days is not required to be made before 1 January 2025.

In order to inform the decision regarding the statutory sick leave scheme officials in my Department have been working with the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). The first stage of this work has been completed and certain informational and data gaps have been identified, including data required to identify workers and firms who are currently covered by a company sick pay policy.

The next stage of the research will aim to bridge some of these data gaps. This work will involve both quantitative and qualitative analysis and may require a firm-level survey representative of the sectoral and size distribution of Irish companies.

Additionally, it must be acknowledged that this is a relatively new form of research. The Sick Leave Act itself has only been in operation since January 2023 and a comprehensive analysis of the sick pay landscape has not been undertaken to date in Ireland.

It is hoped the research will provide evidence on the types of workers who are most likely to benefit from the statutory entitlement, as well as offering insights into any observable changes in the rate of absences due to sickness in Ireland.