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.”.