Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I thank my colleagues for moving this amendment. This will put the Bill in line with the 1% income tax levy, where the Minister exempted people with an income of less than €18,304. That made sense on administrative grounds alone. The Minister should do the same here. The administrative burden will be significant anyway and there will be a huge number of anomalies.

I welcome what the Minister said earlier, that he will try to address some of the issues for very low paid workers. He should bear in mind, however, that where people work directly for a VEC and particularly the HSE, there are complex employment grades and conditions and people who work part-time. As the Minister said, no public body pays less than the minimum wage. However, one finds that workers employed by agencies who are specifically mentioned as being subject to the Bill will inevitably end up being caught, unless the Minister gives an undertaking to be benign in drawing up the regulations to exclude such persons.

In the lists of exempted bodies at the front and back of the Bill, which include the VECs and the HSE, one State-owned body is conspicuous by its absence — Anglo Irish Bank. We own it and are paying through the nose for it, but it is neither in nor out. Given that it is not mentioned, its employees, including its highly paid top people, are out.

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