Mr. Mark Fielding:

On the issue of an incomes policy, I genuinely want the Low Pay Commission to investigate and cost such a policy. It has the capacity to do so. I do not have figures for the Deputy. Rather than beginning with the minimum wage and examining how we will increase it, something that has been put into the public domain, if it is to be empirically based, there may not be an increase in the minimum wage. We could see it coming down to the level of €7.42 per hour, which would equate with the consumer price index figure.

I agree with the Deputy on his point that people are personally being hit with costs similar to those with which businesses are being hit. In a small business the labour content comes in at about 48% of added value, while in a large business it comes in at about 8%. There is a sixfold difference between the two. When there is a rise in the minium wage, it hits small businesses six times harder than it does a large business. Most large businesses do not talk about the minimum wage because they operate at a level where they pay way above it. I am not going to argue the toss with the Deputy over an increase in the minimum wage, rather I am saying we should not have a minimum wage, rather we should have a minimum income policy. As I have said and will continue to say, it is the Government's job to redistribute wealth, not mine