Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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Exactly, and that is my view as well. I sometimes think that, with legislation, less is very often more. The more you put in, the more likely it is you could be tripped up.

The opening statement states, "the incidence of sub-minimum youth rates may increase during recessionary periods". That happens because things are tight during recessionary periods and employers will, by necessity some might say, retreat to the cheapest form of labour. Is that not an argument in favour of abolishing the sub-minimum rate, since it exists and the witnesses have acknowledged that its incidence may increase? I would say its incidence is likely to increase. That is in the Department's submission. Do the witnesses have evidence to back that up other than what we know ourselves? When times are tight and costs are cut, labour costs are generally the first thing employers of workers on low pay in particular will look to.