Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The witnesses have said that, overall, the number on sub-minimum rates corresponds to 0.7% of employees.

The key issue seems to be the current pressure on the hospitality sector, which says that the move towards the living wage has created big pressure in that sector and complains of very high rates of closure. Do the witnesses have evidence of what share of employees in the hospitality or retail sector is made up of people on sub-minimum rates? What sort of an impact might this have on that sector, which seems to be going through a series of structural challenges?

To what extent are there relationships between payment of sub-minimum wage and the number of apprenticeships being provided in a sector? It seems that, in some sectors, apprenticeships are not up to the level we would expect them to be. Are there issues around failure to develop apprenticeships and a more structured entry into sectors?

In the hospitality sector, reliance on students has sort of been a traditional thing, and I see that 80% of these are students. Are there any initial indications of the sort of impact we might see from the hospitality sector?