Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 May 2024
51. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment when he will have conducted his review of the ESRI research on the impact of statutory sick leave; the reasons he has taken this approach; and the reason he is deviating from the Government's initial timeline. [23125/24]
View answerMy question relates to the review of the ESRI research into the impact of statutory sick leave. I want to understand why the Government is taking its current approach and why it is deviating from its own initial timeline. When will the review be concluded?
As the Deputy is aware, the Sick Leave Act 2022 introduced employer-paid, medically certified, statutory sick leave for the first time in Ireland. From 1 January 2023, the initial statutory entitlement was up to thee days' sick leave, which increased to five days on 1 January 2024.
As the Deputy will be aware, statutory sick leave, and its phased roll-out, was designed in consultation with the Minister for Social Protection and the social partners. A ministerial decision will be required by the end of this year on the third phase of this plan, including whether to increase the entitlement to seven days next year. To make this decision and in line with section 6 of the Sick Leave Act, the Minister must have regard to several key factors, including:
the state of the economy generally, the business environment and national competitiveness ... the state of society generally, the public interest and employee well-being ... the potential impact [of] ... making an order [to vary the number of days] ... data on earnings and labour costs as published by the ... [CSO] ... the views of [employee and] employer representative bodies ... [and any] other matters ... consider[ed] relevant.
I am aware that members of the business community have raised concerns about the overall impact of increased labour regulation on the cost of doing business. Therefore, to consider the impact of any potential further increases to sick leave, my departmental officials are currently exploring with the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, the possibility of capturing more detail on the impact of the changes to statutory sick leave, which, I understand, could include further analysis of existing CSO data sets, as well as potentially gathering new data. As this work is at an early stage, it would not be appropriate to speculate on potential outcomes at this point. However, it is important to note that a decision on this will be required by the end of the year.
Is the Minister of State saying the report will be published before the end of the year? Will we have a chance to debate it here on the floor of the Dáil? I hope we will and I can tell the Minister of State that I will definitely be looking for that debate if it is not offered by the Government because it is important. I saw the Minister of State's little video. I do not follow her party on social media but it was sent to me by several workers who are very concerned because they see what the Government is doing, which is pitting workers against business. It is a fairly brazen and blatant attempt to do so. I saw her colleague write "Stick Sick Pay" onto her little flip chart and then say that some measures would have to be paused.
Just so that the Minister of State knows, workers got that message. They see what she is doing; I see it as well. What the Minister of State can do is help businesses and support workers at the same time. It is entirely possible to do that.
We absolutely recognise that there is a cost of doing business crisis, but that is not the fault of workers, many of whom are on very low wages. The Government's sick pay scheme was already structured in a way that made it very difficult and tough for people to access it as they have to have a doctor's certificate, which will cost people €65 to €70, which is a phenomenal amount of money if you are a low-income worker. Will the Minister of State give me something about the timeline and confirmation that we will have a chance to debate that report on the floor of the Dáil?
I thank the Deputy. Her suggestion of supporting workers and businesses at the same time is actually something we are already doing in this Government. Only last week, the Minister, Peter Burke, and our team announced additional measures to support businesses, and under this Government, we placed significant emphasis on workers' rights. We put sick pay on a statutory footing for the first time ever. We substantially increased the national minimum wage in January. We introduced the right to request to work from home, the right to disconnect and legislation on tips and we have brought in record investment when it comes to supporting workers. Last week, as I said, the Minister, Peter Burke, brought in additional supports for businesses. That is exactly what the Government wants to do. We want to support both businesses and workers. In the past two years in particular, the Government has been highly productive and proactive when it comes to enhancing employment rights, offering additional protections, creating better employment conditions and continuing to foster entrepreneurship.
What it looks like to me is that the Government is punishing workers to compensate for another one of its failed business support schemes. When the ICOB scheme first closed, less than half of qualifying businesses had applied. I appreciate that figure is slightly higher now, but as of last Wednesday, only 10.7 % of applicants have had grant money paid to them. This is a shocking situation. The scheme was announced six months ago, so a little bit more should have been paid out. If the Government is serious about doing both, and the Minister of State says it is, that means delivering for businesses as well as not threatening to punish workers.
Sick pay is a very important instrument of public health. We saw this during the pandemic. There was broad agreement that sick pay during a pandemic, or indeed outside that time, is a very important instrument of public health and is very important for workers, especially those on low incomes. I will say again, because nothing in the Minister of State's answer convinced me otherwise, that the Government is trying to pit workers against small businesses and it is disgraceful.
Absolutely not. We are supporting both workers and businesses. We have a legal requirement to have regard to the potential impact of making an order to vary the number of sick days. For that reason, the Minister, Peter Burke, the Minister of State, Dara Calleary, and I have asked the ESRI to provide data so we can make an evidence-based, informed decision because that is what responsible decision-making looks like.
We know businesses are struggling and that is why last week we announced a new package of measures. Grants are being paid out, and they are being paid out even today as we sit here. As I already outlined, we have invested hugely in workers' rights, especially in the past two years, by introducing statutory sick pay, increasing the national minimum wage and introducing the right to request to work from home, which is only possible because of the broadband plan Sinn Féin voted against, and the right to disconnect. We have invested hugely in employers because we know they are the people who provide jobs for workers and we need workers to have good, fair, transparent working conditions. That is what we are delivering.
