Niall Collins (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)

This has been a very interesting debate on the minimum wage. In a way it mirrors a debate we had as regards the €10 travel tax at airports. The reaction, too, is similar. We heard from Ryanair in relation to the airport travel tax that a reduction to €3 was not good enough and would not make any difference. When it was put up to it, it still was not happy, and the reaction to the dropping of €1 from the minimum wage is similar in terms of the reaction from the Opposition parties. I believe we need to see how it works out.

To draw another parallel, no member of the public has ever contacted me to say he or she was opposed to the €10 travel tax. My experience differs slightly as regards the minimum wage. I got one phone call, from a SIPTU official in Limerick. When I was asked to vote against the reduction in the minimum wage, I asked why. I was told, "All the unscrupulous employers in County Limerick will start abusing their employees with the drop in the minimum wage". I replied that this was a serious charge and asked who all those alleged employers were as I would liked to take it up with them. Needless to say, there was much huffing and puffing, but nobody was offered up as an example. I told the official I was supporting Government policy on this and that, in fact, I agreed with the reduction in the minimum wage.

As a public representative, however, I also stand for the protection of workers' rights. It has to be put on the record again that over the years - many parties are responsible for this - successive legislation has been introduced to protect workers' rights, for example, the Employment Equality Act, the Health and Safety Act, the organisation of working time legislation, maternity protection and unfair dismissals legislation, protection of employment laws etc. I could list some 40 items of legislation in this regard and it is right that they are on the Statute Book. At the same time, however, we have had other debates in this House in relation to business, its over-regulation and the red tape that is placed in its way of survival on a day to day basis. The people who represent business have been telling us the minimum wage has been a barrier, and we have to strive to remove the barriers from businesses to allow them to remain competitive.

We have made serious strides in terms of improvements in energy and communication costs and infrastructure, and we now have to examine labour costs. I met earlier with a group from the Dell Redundant Workers Association. We discussed Dell in this House. Dell moved to Poland for many reasons, including our uncompetitiveness and labour costs. At the end of the day, if the cut in the minimum wage results in the creation of extra employment for people in the service industry and for students at weekends, it will be a good measure.

The point has rightly been made that a cut in the minimum wage does not mean that those currently in receipt of the old rate of €8.65 will have to take a €1 cut because they have been employed at a previously agreed rate. We must look at other issues that affect small businesses because it is they who are facing the biggest challenges and are paying the minimum wage and local authority charges. In this regard, there is a responsibility on the Fine Gael and Labour parties who control almost all of the local authorities. How many of the local authorities will, at a time when they are drawing up their annual budgets for next year, reduce their commercial rates and waste and water charges, which are hugely critical for business? We are not in charge of the local authorities but Fine Gael and the Labour Party are.

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