Aideen Hayden (Labour)

I would also like to welcome the Minister to the House. It is a great pleasure for us in the Labour Party to see her sitting before us for such an important Bill. The Minister has championed this Bill on all Stages and she is very committed to the measures in it.

I welcome wholeheartedly the restoration of the minimum wage. It is true that more equal societies are actually more competitive. There are many economic statistics which show that poorer people spend more of their money on essentials and spend more of their money locally, so restoring the national minimum wage will help the local economy.

Cutting the 8.5% rate of employer's PRSI is an exceptionally important measure as part of the jobs initiative. I am only too well aware of what happened in this country in the 1980s. At the time, I worked in Darndale, Killinarden and Ballymun and I saw those communities sink into the despair of unemployment, recession and the issues which came with that. We only have to look at our nearest neighbour, in communities such as south Wales, where a whole category of people are referred to as "NEETs", which means "Not in employment, education or training". There are three generations of families in this region who have never known a family member in employment. These are important measures that will prevent Ireland going back to where we were in the 1980s, or having the experiences of some of those communities.

In respect of the increase in the pension age, we need to ensure that there is no discrimination against older people in the workforce. I have spoken to the Minister on another occasion about this and I know she is committed to it. It is also very important that older people are not discriminated against when it comes to educational and training opportunities, and are given access to good quality employment. We need to work hard to ensure that happens.

I have had the pleasures of teaching and tutoring in UCD over the last few years, and I have met a significant number of young people going through that university. I am aware of the difference something like the internship programme can make to young people coming through the educational system today. There was a whole generation of young people in the 1980s who never got access to proper, decent job opportunities during that recession. The Minister has shown her commitment to the internship programme. When the last Government stepped down, there was not one single internship place in this country, and I know this Minister is committed to providing 10,000 internship places. If she has anything to do with it, that 10,000 will be 20,000. I commend the Bill to the House.