Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

The Minister referred to energy, wages and local authority charges, which are the bugbear of many small and medium enterprises. This country has extremely high energy costs; they are the second highest in Europe. These costs could be controlled through a different approach to our regulatory model. Labour costs are very high. Already this year the retail sector will be obliged to introduce a 2.5% increase in October, due to joint labour committees, JLCs. This is out of employers' control and they must implement it. The same thing happened in the hospitality sector. What plans does the Minister have to address wage costs? Does she believe the minimum wage should be reduced?

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