Ms Jean McCabe:

I will answer the Deputy's question on the cost of the living wage and the cost of living in general. He is right when he says that a majority of the workers on the minimum wage are students, people on a gap year or part-time workers who want to do a few hours every week. They are not the main breadwinners in households. The ESRI's own reports and studies have shown that data. The other point is that the instigation of an increased minimum wage has little to no effect on low-income households. As people in those households are not on the minimum wage, these increases are not having an impact on them.