◎ OireachtasDB

Seanad Éireann · 2020-09-30

Part of Commencement Matters

Covid-19 Pandemic Supports

LAB Marie Sherlock · Labour Panel

Party shown is the one held on 2020-09-30, frozen at parse time — not the speaker's party today.

Jump to this contribution Download this speech (.txt)

Summary of this debate

Auto-generated

This question relates to the eligibility for the Covid illness payment, which is an enhanced illness benefit. Under the Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020, the Government, having regard to the manifest and grave risk to human life and public health posed by the spread of Covid-19, made exceptional provision, in the public interest and to mitigate the effect of the spread of the disease, to amend and extend the Social Welfare Acts to provide for entitlement to illness benefit for persons who have been diagnosed with, or are a probable source of, infection with Covid-19.

The rate of payment of the enhanced illness benefit payment in respect of Covid-19 is higher than the normal maximum personal rate for a limited period.

Built by scoring every sentence in the debate on how distinctive its language is, then quoting the highest-scoring ones back word for word and in the order spoken. Nothing is paraphrased or invented — if a sentence appears here, it was said in the chamber. Drawn from 932 words across 4 contributions by 2 speakers.

Most used terms in this debate

How often each word appears across the whole debate, ranked by how distinctive it is to this debate rather than common to all parliamentary language.

illness 12
payment 15
movements 6
covid- 10
probable 4
benefit 10
restrict 5
enhanced 6
diagnosed 4
person 8
practitioner 3
medical 5

The full debate

All 4 contributions, start to finish, in the order they were made. The one you came here for is highlighted.

LAB Marie Sherlock

I thank the Minister of State and I congratulate her on her appointment. This is the first opportunity I have had to do so. This question relates to the eligibility for the Covid illness payment, which is an enhanced illness benefit. There is a large degree of confusion as to the difference between persons who have to self-isolate and those who have to restrict their movements and, by extension, confusion about their entitlements from the State, in particular when they find themselves in a situation when they need to restrict their movements.

We have a situation in this country at present with retail workers. Last week, I was contacted by Mandate trade union and it also contacted the Minister to seek clarification. Its members are front-line retail workers interfacing with the public day in, day out. They are also low-paid workers and have no cushion when it comes to being out sick. There is a real concern about what entitlements they have if they are a close contact of a confirmed case and need to restrict their movements.

Not only is the Minister of State's reply very important but the communication to the wider public is critical. People do not understand their entitlements. I would like to understand the number who, if they are eligible, have sought Covid-19 payments because they are self-restricting. Of course, this is dependent on the Minister of State telling me they are entitled to it in the first place. I look forward to the response.

FF Mary Butler

I thank the Senator for posing this question. It is a very important question and clarity is needed on it. I am representing the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection who is not available to take the question. I agree with the Senator that there has been a large degree of confusion and I hope that I can bring clarity to the situation.

As we all know, illness benefit is a short-term payment made to insured people who are unable to work due to illness. This payment is funded by the Social Insurance Fund through the payment of PRSI contributions by workers and employers and, in the event of a shortfall between contributions received and benefits paid, the Exchequer. This was always the situation.

Under the Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020, the Government, having regard to the manifest and grave risk to human life and public health posed by the spread of Covid-19, made exceptional provision, in the public interest and to mitigate the effect of the spread of the disease, to amend and extend the Social Welfare Acts to provide for entitlement to illness benefit for persons who have been diagnosed with, or are a probable source of, infection with Covid-19. The rate of payment of the enhanced illness benefit payment in respect of Covid-19 is higher than the normal maximum personal rate for a limited period. The measures were designed to ensure that, where a registered medical practitioner or a HSE medical officer diagnoses a person with Covid-19 or identifies him or her as a probable source of infection of Covid-19, the person can comply with medical advice to isolate while having his or her income protected. This is essential to limit and slow down the spread of the virus, keep the number of people affected to a minimum and reduce a peak of cases which would cause extreme pressure on the health system.

On the question regarding numbers, unfortunately I do not have that information, but I will bring the matter to the attention of the Minister with a view to her Department providing the information to the Senator.

LAB Marie Sherlock this contribution

I welcome the Minister of State's clarification that if a person has to self-isolate or restrict his or movements, he or she is entitled to the illness benefit payment. There is an important question with regard to the certification that a person requires to be eligible for that payment. For example, is a doctor's note required? Currently, when a person presents for a test and is diagnosed with Covid-19 there is a paper trail, but this is much less the case where a person has a negative result but is still required to restrict his or her movements for 14 days. I urge the Minister to clarify the certification required and to place emphasis on the need to communicate this to the wider public. The Minister of State referred to the need to slow down this virus. Unless we tell people who are restricting their movements that they will receive this benefit, some people may go to work or conduct their activities in public and we need to discourage that.

FF Mary Butler

As I said, payment is made where a medical practitioner advises a person to remain away from work. It is clear then that a person needs to be certified by a medical practitioner to avail of the two weeks' enhanced Covid payment. As of 25 September 2020, 55,000 claims had been received since March 2020. Almost 52,000 people have received an enhanced illness benefit payment, the vast majority on the basis that they were a probable risk of infection rather than having been diagnosed with Covid-19. Of those who made claims, 7% have been diagnosed with Covid-19, 82% are a probable risk, 11% were on a Covid-19 illness benefit payment and have moved to another illness payment and 1,854 are currently on the enhanced illness benefit payment. Over €36 million has been spent on the enhanced illness benefit payment to date. I hope this provides the clarity the Senator sought.

Download this debate (.txt)