Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

On the proposal to the deal with the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill, the measure to cut the minimum wage is at the end of the legislation. As Deputy Penrose pointed out yesterday, the arrangements the Government proposes for the taking of the Bill will mean, in practice, that it is unlikely the Dáil will have an opportunity to specifically address the cut in the minimum wage. Among the matters which will not receive the attention they deserve under the proposed arrangements is the statement by the Minister for Finance on budget day that those on the new reduced minimum wage will not be brought into the tax net. That is not true.

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