Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I would not. I am not sure I would regard it as a relatively small number either because what is it relative to? If there are 150,000 people on the minimum wage, in effect it means approximately that for every four people on the full minimum wage there is one who is a young worker on a subminimum rate. What are we talking about with the subminimum rates? Let us project forward to 1 January when the rate goes to €12.70. A 19-year-old worker on the subminimum rate receiving 90% will be on €11.43, an 18-year-old worker at the 80% rate will be on €10.16 and someone under the age of 18 on the 70% rate will be at €8.89. I have listened to what the witnesses have said. I hear that they do not want to get too bogged down in this issue, given that they are deliberating on it at the moment, so for my part I will make the point that the subminimum youth rates are discriminatory. They are unjust and wrong. I do not believe they can be defended because it is a principle in my view - and, I believe, in the eyes of most reasonable, ordinary people - that there must be equal pay for work of equal value. It is illegal in this State to discriminate against people on grounds of race, gender, sexual orientation and so on. It should equally be illegal to discriminate against people on grounds of age where we are talking about a scenario of equal pay for work of equal value.

The idea may be out there that the youth rates are acceptable because the money earned by people of these ages is pocket money or a few bob to top up students. Some young people use that money to pay rent. They are out there renting on their own for a variety of reasons. If they are at home, they may be helping their mother and father to pay the rent. It may be the difference between being able to pay the rent and steer clear of eviction, or not. There are people of 19 years of age who are responsible for children and have a child of their own. Potentially, such people are being paid €8.89 in the case of under-18s or just barely more than €10 in the case of someone who is 18.

There is a higher rate of low pay among young people in this country than there is on average in the EU. The EU's own statistics - these figures are 12 months old so they may be slightly off, but I would not think by much - indicate that whereas 26.2% of young people in the EU are officially low-paid, in Ireland the figure is considerably higher at 33.9%. For all these reasons and more, the deliberations that the commission is engaged in at the moment on the issue of the youth rates, with a report due to be submitted to the Minister before the end of the year, are of particular importance.

This may be my final question, although I have one minute and seven seconds left. Can the witnesses give the committee and the public an indication of when the report will be submitted to the Minister? Will it be this month of October, next month of November or will it run right up to the deadline at the end of December? Will the commission publish it and then submit it to the Minister, or is it to be submitted to the Minister and published after the fact?