SEANAD:A PROPOSAL that employers be required to make payments to staff on sick leave was an anti-jobs measure and must be speedily reconsidered, Fidelma Healy-Eames (FG) said.

The Irish Times had reported that Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton planned to make employers responsible for payment of the first four weeks sick pay.

This might be just a story, but she was appealing to the Minister to reconsider any such plan. Employers were “multipliers. They need to be encouraged, not discouraged.”

Small and medium enterprises were the life-blood of this country.

She had received phone calls from concerned employers who had told her they would have to downsize if the reported sick pay change was made.

The result would be a loss of revenue for the exchequer, she added.

“Let’s get the message through to Minister Burton: this is a bad move for jobs, and the mantra of our Government is jobs and getting people back to work.”

Seanad leader Maurice Cummins (FG) said one should not always believe what they read in the papers.

Ms Healy-Eames could take the matter up with the Minister when she was in the House tomorrow.

The Irish Times and its journalist Paul Cullen “have done us a service” by pointing to the failures of the current Government in ending the culture of cronyism when it came to making political appointments, said Ronan Mullen (Ind).

“I don’t like having to say this, but I think a lot of people welcomed what the Taoiseach had to say when he was running for office about the new approach that would be taken, and I think a lot of people will be very disappointed to see that it’s back to old, bad practices.”

There should be only one criterion when it came to making appointments of this kind and that was merit, said Mr Mullen.