Sick leave at a high among South Dublin County Council workers

By Laura Lyne

TWO of the highest sick leave rates in local authorities in 2015 were seen in South Dublin County Council and Dublin City Council.

Dublin City Council saw the highest rate in self-certified sick days taken, while South Dublin County Council was one of two councils with the highest rate of medically certified sick days, along with Leitrim County Council.

The lowest absenteeism rate in the country was in Cavan County Council, with five days lost to illness per employee.

According to the statistics, which were released by Minister for Housing Simon Coveney in response to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil TD Brian Cowen, South Dublin County Council lost 5.20 per cent of working days to medically certified sick days.

This was one of the highest rates of absenteeism due to illness in the country, with the council also losing 0.47 per cent of working days to non-certified sick days.

It accounted for an average of 10.2 sick days per employee, trailing only behind Leitrim (12 days) and Louth (11.84 days) County Councils.

Dublin City Council had a 3.85 per cent rate of certified sick days, and a higher rate of 0.56 per cent of working days lost to non-certified sick days – the highest in the country.

The cost of sick days taken by council workers was €39.3 million in 2015, which accounted for a drop from 2014, when the cost was €39.9 million.

Of this cost, €4.3 million was due to non-certified sick days, with medically certified sick days accounting for €35 million of the cost.

The average amount of days taken off due to illness in councils throughout the country in 2015 was 9.7 days.

Further information on the public service sick leave statistics from 2013 through to 2015, which include local authorities, are available at http://hr.per.gov.ie