Ms Maeve McElwee:

It is correct to say that we do have a considerable incomes gradient. We have a situation here where we have a very high median earnings on the basis that we have a high value economy and we look to create jobs in the high value sector. Naturally we are going to have a situation where we have a disparity of income given that we are not creating jobs at this lower entry level and at lower level piece manufacturing. It has been our ambition to create a knowledge economy and that will lead to a disparity in income. In reality the current national minimum wage is already quite high in its percentage value against the median wage so we have a situation where in Connacht the minimum wage is almost 57% of the national median wage and in Ulster the minimum wage is almost 60% of the national median wage. We must be cognisant of where we are pitching our minimum wage versus the median earnings in the economy.