Mr. Andrew Mannion:

On a bit of background, my name is Andrew. I was an assistant manager in a filling station in Ballinasloe. In 2022, I began organising workers to join Mandate to better our pay and conditions. At the time, we were probably employing between ten and 12 workers who would have been subject to the sub-minimum rates. Approximately half of them were in college. In particular, two girls who were working there were living in shared accommodation in Dublin while they were in college. On any given day, they could have been sharing that house with between eight and ten people. They could not, on the wages they were on, have been only working on a Saturday or Sunday. Sometimes they would have to come back to work on a Friday evening after college - racing down after they had finished - for two to three days of work. Then they had to go into a situation where they were living in overcramped accommodation. Having spoken to them, I know that had a serious impact on their daily lives. They did not have a place to call their own. The house was completely overrun with people. Those are two stories.

I guarantee that the other workers around the country who are on these sub-minimum rates are trying to combat the spiralling cost of living. Whether that is increases in rents, increases in the cost of groceries, transport - you name it - they are all playing into this. It will have a serious impact on people's mental health.

The workers there were not guaranteed a certain amount of hours. At the employer's discretion, they could have had their hours cut to eight. They could have had their hours cut to four hours a week, which would barely cover the cost of getting up and down from Dublin to that job in Ballinasloe. It obviously has a huge impact on their mental health to have to worry about paying their rent and paying all the other bills that come along with that.