Three weeks ago, the High Court found that the HSE was in breach of the Disability Act 2005 with regard to children's right to an assessment of need. It found that the HSE was cutting corners and depriving children of their rights. It also found that, as has been accepted by the head of the HSE, since 2014, the HSE had not been providing the Minister for Health with the statutory reports it is legally obliged to provide setting out the aggregate needs of all of the children and the services that are needed so that the HSE and Minister can plan. Right across the board, the HSE has been in breach of the law. Some HSE officials have indicated that they want a review of the Act to dilute the rights of children with regard to assessments of need. Will the Taoiseach make sure there is no diminution of the rights of children in any review of the Act? We need to resource the services to make sure children get their assessments of need and the services they need.

The HSE accepts the judgment in the recent High Court case and will not be appealing it. This is in line with the approach advised by the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, in response to this particular case. Along with other Ministers at the time, I was involved in producing the Disability Act 2005. The Act has not been overly used since then because of its implications. It has not been delivered on to the degree anticipated at the time. From my perspective, I do not anticipate or want any diminution of the rights of children in this respect. The issue now is to get on with the Act.

I welcome the news from the Government today with regard to sick pay but its proposals do not go far enough. We in the Labour Party have been calling for a more robust and effective sick pay scheme for some time now. My colleague Senator Sherlock has pointed out that the scheme proposed by the Government will not address the real needs of many of those who are in the most vulnerable categories of work. We had called for a proper effective sick pay scheme in September 2020 on foot of appeals from representatives of those working in meat plants and because we saw that employees in the childcare and early years sector were unable to access sick pay in the context of the Covid pandemic. Our concern now is that the Government's proposal does not represent a right to access sick pay from the start of employment. In particular, seasonal workers and early years educators, such as those working in the early childhood care and education scheme, ECCE, who are employed for part of the year will not be covered because the scheme envisages a 13-week period before people are entitled to access. Will the Taoiseach change the scheme to ensure it covers all workers?

The decision taken by the Government yesterday to introduce the sick leave Bill 2021 was a very good one. This introduction was approved by the Cabinet yesterday. The Bill will legislate for a statutory sick pay scheme for all employees, to be phased in over a four-year period. It can be seen from the decisions taken yesterday, including the decisions to undertake the most radical reform of second level education and to introduce this sick pay scheme, the auto-enrolment pension scheme and other measures, that the Government continues to take significant decisions that are reforming and will improve workers' quality of life. This sick pay scheme will be paid by employers at a rate of 70% of an employee's wage subject to a daily maximum threshold of €110. There has been extensive consultation with employers and unions on these measures. It represents a very significant watershed.