Deputy Crinion gave notice of wanting to raise this matter on the Adjournment. I want to remind the Deputy that the time is limited and the debate must conclude at 5.30 p.m. Perhaps the Deputy would take the first ten minutes leaving the balance of the time to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance.
Adjournment Debate: Re-employment of Hospital Patient.
I think the Chair might have cut the Parliamentary Secretary's time. However, it does not matter.
It is mutually agreed.
I thank the Chair for allowing me to raise this matter on the Adjournment. I believe the State as an employer should set an example, particularly when an employee falls ill. This is a letter received by the individual from the National Monuments Branch, Office of Public Works, Trim, County Meath:
Dear Mr.
I am sorry to hear of your illness. I enclose your insurance cards as you require them for social welfare pay-related benefit due to the long period you may be absent from work. When you are fit for work again you should re-apply.
This man is ill and does not therefore require his social welfare cards for disability benefit and pay-related benefit because it is his 1974 stamps which are paying his benefit. No employer would send these cards back in such circumstances and so this is a very feeble excuse. Then the reference to re-applying: we know that anybody who applies for a job with the Board of Works at the moment has to wait for anything up to a year, or perhaps longer, before he is taken on. This man has spent six weeks in hospital and within a week of coming out of hospital he gets this letter telling him his cards are being sent to him and he knows immediately his job is gone. He is told he may reapply. That is all very fine, but how long will it be before he is re-employed? This certainly will not help his recovery if he is worrying about his job. If the Parliamentary Secretary had said yesterday that it is normal to send out the cards after nine weeks but that, when the man re-applies, there will be a position for him everybody would have been satisfied. This man is married with six children. This action by the Board of Works will scarcely help his recovery.
It is unfortunate that this course should have been taken. This is something no good employer would do. If this man stayed out sick for years and his employer went out of business he would be entitled to claim redundancy payment and there would be no such thing as nine weeks, or anything like that, because under the social welfare code the State maintains he is still employed. I am puzzled that any State agency would do what the Board of Works did in this case. I know the man will be out for a couple of months more. That shows the seriousness of his illness. On the other hand, we all know how difficult it is to get employment at the moment and the State should be setting a headline in a case like this. A temporary man has been taken on. Possibly what has been done is in compliance with the Minister's ruling that no new jobs will be created or no new personnel taken on. It is a sad commentary if that is the case.
The Parliamentary Secretary says he has not been dismissed and he will be eligible for re-employment. This sounds fine but it does not help the man who is handed his cards and knows what that means. It means he is dismissed and that it is the way he takes it. Reapplying is very like the firm looking for an employee which interviews applicants and tells each applicant it is quite pleased with the person interviewed and will let him know in a few days. The outcome generally is that the firm is sorry there is no vacancy. That is the way this man feels about what has happened to him. This sort of thing creates a bad impression.
The Board of Works have been good employers and have done good work in County Meath since 1969. Very worthwhile employment has been provided. The pay has been good. There have been bonuses. Men have been trained and promoted to gangers, supervisors, drivers and so on. Many a young fellow has become skilled as a result of working with the Board of Works. As I say, a Government agency should set a headline as a good employer. Any good employer would never think of handing back the cards to an employee when he has been out sick. I realise that after nine weeks one does not pay any more sickness benefit. This is the benefit that makes up the difference between social welfare and his ordinary pay.
There is one of the few firms that do it in County Meath and it is a credit to them. When the illness is over there is no reason why he cannot stay on. I have seen people who have been out sick for much longer than this man, for over a year. They never got back their cards and they were taken back when they re-applied. I know of one man in my own area who had been out sick for a year and he was taken back. He was working for quite a long time afterwards until he became permanently disabled.
On that score I feel that all the Parliamentary Secretary has to say is that for this man, who is a good, hard-working, family man with six children——
Five, sorry—five children, all young, school-going. He has been in hospital for quite a long time. He went in for a minor operation. His complaint became quite serious after the operation. To get this within a week or so of his coming home was very disturbing, even though he sent in a certificate saying it would be at least two more months. It is only fair to point out that he did give that indication that it would be at least two more months before he could come back to work. His doctor felt he would take that time to recover.
I hope that the Parliamentary Secretary will see that when this man is fit again and reapplies there will be a job there for him.
I am surprised that Deputy Crinion has taken up the time of the House, the staff, the officials and the Press on a matter of this nature. This man was taken on temporary employment the first day at Newbridge and the job will be completed in two months' time. However, in view of the song and dance that Deputy Crinion has kicked up about it, I will arrange an immediate medical examination of that man next Monday and if he is pronounced fit for work I shall be only too delighted to have him working on Tuesday.
The Dáil adjourned at 5.25 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 25th May, 1976.