Sr. Bernadette MacMahon:

I might not be the most appropriate person but I certainly have a view on it because we come across it so often. As noted earlier, it is used as a justification for leaving the minimum wage as it is. We also hear that people living on the minimum wage cannot cope because they are bad managers or because they are wasters. Consequently, in the same way that we talked about some employers not being able to afford it, there is more than one category of employer. The biggest point is the question of whether one can educate people because a lot of people who are relatively well-off have no idea as to what it is like to feed one's family on less than €100 per week. I refer to the food bills for four children and two adults. Consequently, I think there is a strong educational aspect simply by asking them to face the facts. Sometimes, people can be highly embarrassed when they are asked to apply that to themselves. While I believe that it can be a difficult wall to get over, somehow we must come back with the facts. This is what we try to do by saying this is what one is asking people to work for and to give 37 hours a week to doing. It is a question of education and of appealing to them. I do not know what the other answer is but I feel extremely strongly about it. I have two other points to make, the first of which is about the hours and we spoke of the importance of it not just being about the hourly wage. The second point relates to Deputy Calleary's reference to child care. The other biggest contribution to the cost of living is housing and if one wishes to talk about child care, one should also include the cost of housing.

It is a difficult question that we get all the time. We do not want to say that people have no moral or ethical values. The President is asking us to look at a more ethical Ireland and I ask them to participate in that conversation.