Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

It did not come from the Labour Court. As recently as a couple of weeks ago the Government did not seem minded to cut the minimum wage. There are few, if any, bodies in this country of which I am aware that were actively seeking a cut in the minimum wage. I accept there has been comment about the minimum wage from time to time but I am not aware that people were lobbying Government to cut it. Did the request to cut the minimum wage come from outside the country? The Taoiseach should tell us where the notion of cutting the minimum wage came from. It seems to be a peculiar form of Fianna Fáil economics, that one pays people less in order to incentivise those who are on low pay and who are poor, but in order to incentivise the banks one throws more money into them.

See this speech in context