Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020

PART 1 Preliminary and General

1.. Short title and construction

1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020.

(2) The Social Welfare Acts and Part 2 shall be construed together as one Act.

2.. Commencement and operation

2. (1) The amendments effected by sections 4, 5 and 6 shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 9th day of March 2020.

(2) The amendments effected by sections 7 and 8 shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 13th day of March 2020.

(3) The amendments effected by—

(a) Part 2, subject to subsection (4), continue in operation until the 9th day of May 2020, and

F1[(b)Part 3, continue in operation for the period beginning on the 10th day of February 2022 and ending on the later of—

(i) the 31st day of March 2022, or

(ii) the date that is specified in a resolution passed by each House of the Oireachtas undersubsection (6).]

(4) The Government, at the request of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection following consultation with any other Minister of the Government as he or she considers appropriate having regard to the functions of that Minister of the Government, may where they are satisfied that it is in the public interest to do so, from time to time, by order declare that all or any of the amendments effected by Part 2 shall continue in operation for such period or periods as may be specified in the order concerned.

(5) An order under subsection (4) shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House sits after the order is laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

F1[(6) Each House of the Oireachtas may, before the 31st day of March 2022, pass a resolution to continue in operation the amendments effected byPart 3for such period, not exceeding 3 months, that ends on a date specified in the resolution.]

PART 2 Amendments to Social Welfare Acts

3.. Definition

3. In this Part, “Act of 2005” means the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005.

4.. Amendment of section 21 of Act of 2005

4. Section 21 of the Act of 2005 is amended, in subsection (1)(e), by the substitution of “illness benefit granted to a person to whom section 40(7) applies, invalidity pension” for “invalidity pension”.

5.. Amendment of section 40 of Act of 2005

5. Section 40 of the Act of 2005 is amended—

(a) in subsection (1), by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (b):

“(b) he or she satisfies the contribution conditions in section 41 or such conditions as may be prescribed in accordance with regulations under section 40A.”,

and

(b) by the insertion of the following subsections after subsection (6):

“(7) Subject to subsection (8), this subsection applies to a person who is incapable of work, or is deemed to be incapable of work, by virtue of—

(a) being certified in the prescribed manner by a registered medical practitioner as being a person—

(i) who is diagnosed with Covid-19, or

(ii) who is a probable source of infection of Covid-19,

(b) having been notified, in the prescribed manner, by a medical officer of health or such other person as may be prescribed, that he or she is a probable source of infection of Covid-19,

(c) being deemed, in accordance with regulations under section 40A, to be a probable source of infection of Covid-19, or

(d) being a person in respect of whom an order under section 38A(1) of the Health Act 1947 is in force.

(8) Notwithstanding subsection (7), the Minister may prescribe a category or categories of persons who, by virtue of the terms and conditions (expressed or implied) of their contract of employment, shall not be entitled to illness benefit in respect of absences from employment arising from their being a person to whom subsection (7) applies.

(9) Notwithstanding subsection (2), a person to whom subsection (7) applies shall be entitled to illness benefit on and from the first day of any period of incapacity, or deemed incapacity, for work.

(10) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, the Minister may, in respect of a person to whom subsection (7) applies, prescribe the minimum contribution conditions to be satisfied.

(11) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, in respect of a person to whom subsection (7) applies, the Minister may by regulations under section 40A vary the rate of illness benefit for such period as may be prescribed.

(12) In this section and section 40A, ‘Covid-19’ means a disease caused by infection with the virus SARS-CoV-2 and specified as an infectious disease in accordance with Regulation 6 of, and the Schedule to, the Infectious Diseases Regulations 1981 (S.I. No. 390 of 1981) or any variant of the disease so specified as an infectious disease in those Regulations.”.

6.. Regulations in respect of persons to whom section 40(7) applies

6. The Act of 2005 is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 40:

“40A. (1) The Minister may, following consultation with the Minister for Health, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, and having regard to the matters specified in subsection (2), make regulations for the purposes of giving full effect to the relevant provisions and such regulations may, in particular, but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, provide for all or any of the following:

(a) the matters referred to as prescribed by the relevant provisions;

(b) the procedure by which, and manner in which, a person is certified to be a relevant person;

(c) notwithstanding the generality of paragraph (b), the procedure by which, and manner in which, a person is deemed to be a probable source of infection of Covid-19;

(d) the requirements in relation to which, and the manner in which, a relevant person shall notify the Minister of the circumstances of his or her incapacity, or deemed incapacity, for work;

(e) additional conditions for entitlement of a relevant person to illness benefit;

(f) such additional, incidental, consequential or supplemental matters as the Minister considers necessary or expedient for the purposes of giving effect to the relevant provisions.

(2) When making regulations under this section, the Minister shall have regard to the following:

(a) the nature and potential impact of Covid-19 on individuals, society and the State;

(b) the capacity of the State to respond to the risk to public health posed by the spread of Covid-19;

(c) the policies and objectives of the Government to protect the health and welfare of members of the public;

(d) the need to ensure the most beneficial, effective and efficient use of resources;

(e) the need to mitigate the economic effects of the spread of Covid-19;

(f) in relation to regulations made for the purposes of section 40(7)(c), the impact of the requirement for certification on the availability of resources within the health services.

(3) In this section—

‘relevant person’ means a person to whom section 40(7) applies;

‘relevant provisions’ means subsections (7) to (12) of section 40.”.

7.. Amendment of section 62 of Act of 2005

7. Section 62 of the Act of 2005 is amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (4):

“(4) A person shall not, except as provided for by regulations made with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, be entitled to jobseeker’s benefit for the first 3 days of any period of interruption of employment.”.

8.. Amendment of section 141 of Act of 2005

8. Section 141 of the Act of 2005 is amended in subsection (2) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a):

“(a) A person shall not, except as provided for by regulations made with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, be entitled to jobseeker’s allowance for the first 3 days of unemployment in any continuous period of unemployment.”.

PART 3 Amendment to Health Act 1947

9.. Definition

9. In this Part, “Act of 1947” means the Health Act 1947.

10.. Amendment of Act of 1947

10. The Act of 1947 is amended by the insertion of the following sections after section 31:

“Regulations for preventing, limiting, minimising or slowing spread of Covid-19

31A. (1) The Minister may, having regard to the immediate, exceptional and manifest risk posed to human life and public health by the spread of Covid-19 and to the matters specified in subsection (2), make regulations for the purpose of preventing, limiting, minimising or slowing the spread of Covid-19 (including the spread outside the State) or where otherwise necessary, to deal with public health risks arising from the spread of Covid-19 and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, such regulations may, in particular, provide for all or any of the following:

(a) restrictions to be imposed upon travel to or from the State;

(b) restrictions to be imposed upon travel to, from or within geographical locations to which an affected areas order applies;

(c) without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (b), restrictions to be imposed upon persons or classes of persons resident in, working in or visiting locations referred to in paragraph (b) including (but not limited to)—

(i) requiring persons to remain in their homes, or

(ii) without prejudice to any other provisions of this Act or regulations made thereunder requiring persons to remain in such other places, as may be specified by the Minister;

(d) the prohibition of events, or classes of events, including (but not limited to) events—

(i) which, by virtue of the nature, format, location or environment of the event concerned or the arrangements for, or the activities involved in, or the numbers likely to be attending, the event could reasonably be considered to pose a risk of infection with Covid-19 to persons attending the event,

(ii) at specified geographical locations to which an affected areas order applies,

(iii) at locations which by virtue of the nature, format, or environment of the locations concerned or the arrangements for, or the activities involved in, or the numbers likely to be attending the type of events at the locations, could reasonably be considered to pose a risk of infection with Covid-19 to persons attending at events at those locations,

(iv) where the level of proposed attendance or likely level of attendance at the event could reasonably be considered to pose a risk of infection with Covid-19 to persons attending the event;

(e) the safeguards required to be put in place by event organisers in relation to events in order to prevent, limit, minimise or slow the risk of persons attending any such event of being infected with Covid-19;

(f) the safeguards required to be put in place by owners or occupiers of a premises or a class of premises (including the temporary closure of such premises) in order to prevent, limit, minimise or slow the risk of persons attending such premises of being infected with Covid-19;

(g) the safeguards required to be put in place by owners or occupiers of any other place or class of place, (including the temporary closure of such place or class of place) in order to prevent, limit, minimise or slow the risk of persons attending at such place or class of place of being infected with Covid-19;

(h) without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing paragraphs, the safeguards required to be put in place by managers (howsoever described) of schools, including language schools, creches or other childcare facilities, universities or other educational facilities (including the temporary closure of such facilities) to prevent, minimise, limit, or slow the risk of infection of persons attending such premises of being infected with Covid-19;

(i) any other measures that the Minister considers necessary in order to prevent, limit, minimise or slow the spread of Covid-19;

(j) the giving of notices, the particulars to be contained therein and the manner in which such notices may be given for the purposes of the regulations;

(k) such additional, incidental, consequential or supplemental matters as the Minister considers necessary or expedient for the purposes of giving full effect to the regulations.

(2) When making regulations under subsection (1), the Minister—

(a) shall have regard to the following:

(i) the fact that a national emergency has arisen of such character that there is an immediate and manifest risk to human life and public health as a consequence of which it is expedient in the public interest that extraordinary measures should be taken to safeguard human life and public health;

(ii) the fact that a declaration of Public Health Emergency of International Concern was made by the World Health Organisation in respect of Covid-19 and that Covid-19 was duly declared by that Organisation to be a pandemic;

(iii) the fact that Covid-19 poses significant risks to human life and public health by virtue of its potential for incidence of mortality;

(iv) the policies and objectives of the Government to take such protective measures as are practicable to vindicate the life and bodily integrity of citizens against a public health risk;

(v) the need to act expeditiously in order to prevent, limit, minimise or slow the spread of Covid-19;

(vi) the resources of the health services, including the number of health care workers available at a given time, the capacity of the workers to undertake measures, to test persons for Covid-19 and to provide care and treatment to persons infected with Covid-19, the necessity to take such measures as are appropriate to protect health care workers from infection from Covid-19, and the capacity of hospitals or other institutions to accommodate and facilitate the provision of care and treatment to infected persons;

(vii) the resources, including the financial resources, of the State;

(viii) the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health,

and

(b) may, have regard to any relevant guidance (including, in particular, any guidance relating to the risk assessment for, and case definition relating to, Covid-19) provided by the World Health Organisation, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre of the Health Service Executive and other persons with relevant medical and scientific expertise.

(3) Before making regulations under subsection (1), the Minister—

(a) shall consult any other Minister of the Government as he or she considers appropriate having regard to the functions of that other Minister of the Government, and

(b) may consult any other person as the Minister considers appropriate for the purposes of these regulations.

(4) The Minister may, having consulted any other Minister of the Government as he or she considers appropriate having regard to the functions of that other Minister of the Government, exempt specified classes of persons including, but not limited to persons, who perform essential services, including statutory duties or other specified public or other services, from regulations under subsection (1).

(5) This section is without prejudice to the provisions of section 31, including as they may relate to Covid-19.

(6) A person who—

(a) contravenes a provision of a regulation made under subsection (1) that is stated to be a penal provision,

(b) obstructs, interferes with or impedes a relevant person in the course of exercising a power conferred by regulations under this section on that relevant person,

(c) fails or refuses to give to a relevant person information—

(i) that is within the first-mentioned person’s knowledge,

(ii) that the first-mentioned person is required by regulations under this section to give the relevant person, and

(iii) that the first-mentioned person has been requested to give, or has been otherwise informed of the requirement to give, to a relevant person,

or

(d) in purported compliance with a requirement under regulations under subsection (1), gives information to a relevant person that, to the first-mentioned person’s knowledge, is false or misleading in any material particular,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(7) A member of the Garda Síochána who suspects, with reasonable cause, that a person is contravening or has contravened a provision of a regulation made under subsection (1) that is stated to be a penal provision, may, for the purposes of ensuring compliance with the regulation, direct the person to take such steps as the member considers necessary to comply with the provision.

(8) (a) A person who, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, fails to comply with a direction under subsection (7) shall be guilty of an offence.

(b) A member of the Garda Síochána may arrest without warrant a person whom the member has reasonable cause for believing is committing or has committed an offence under this subsection.

(9) A member of the Garda Síochána who has reasonable grounds for believing that a person is committing or has committed an offence under this section may require the person to state his or her name and address.

(10) A person who fails or refuses to state his or her name and address in compliance with a requirement under subsection (9), or who, in purported compliance with such a requirement, states a name or address that is false or misleading, shall be guilty of an offence.

(11) A member of the Garda Síochána may arrest without warrant any person whom the member has reasonable cause for believing has committed an offence under subsection (10).

(12) A person who commits an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a class C fine, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or both.

(13) (a) Regulations under subsection (1) may provide for their implementation and enforcement by a person (in this section referred to as a ‘relevant person’), or group of such relevant persons, as may be specified, and for this purpose different persons, or combinations of persons, may be so specified for different purposes in, or in relation to different provisions of, such regulations.

(b) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a), persons who may be specified under this subsection include—

(i) an authorised officer,

(ii) a medical officer of health,

(iii) an officer of the Minister for Justice and Equality,

(iv) an officer of customs (within the meaning of the Customs Act 2015), or

(v) a person, or group of persons, appointed by the Health Service Executive.