Dáil debates

Friday, 10 December 2010

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages

 

12:00 pm

Photo of Róisín ShortallRóisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

People on the reduced level of minimum wage will be brought into the tax net and they will pay €8.42 in tax.

This means a person going out to work for 40 hours a week will take home less than €300. I do not know whether Deputy Gogarty is aware of this; probably not, given the other universe in which the Green Party tends to live. Can anybody in the House imagine what it is like to work for 40 hours a week and take home €297 for his or her trouble? Who in this House could survive on €297 a week, particularly after working for 40 hours? This is a scandal; the Government is now stating that the poor are fair game and that it is okay for somebody to work 40 hours a week and take home €297. Can anybody imagine the indignity of this? People must go out and work 40 hours, probably taking 50 hours out of their week, in what is probably a fairly menial job to come out with this type of money. What has this country come to that we are telling people it is okay to treat them like this? It beggars belief that those in government, who have been swanning around for the past 13 years in their Mercedes oblivious to what is going on in the real world, can say to people that it is okay for them to cut their pay so that after working for 40 hours they will receive €297. It shows how totally out of touch Fianna Fáil has become from people who live in the real world. Of course this is directed at non-nationals, women and young people. To suggest this will not have a knock-on impact on pay or on people working for the existing minimum wage is absolute nonsense. The Government is giving the lead and stating to employers that the poorest people in our society are fair game, that the Government has hammered them and will not stop anyone else from doing so.

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