Dáil debates

Wednesday, 15 December 2010

National Minimum Wage: Motion (Resumed)

 

6:00 pm

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to make a brief contribution to this debate. I firmly believe that during the past few days in particular there were a great many untruths and misinformation in regard to this measure have been put into the public domain. As Deputy Power said, this is about trying to regain competitiveness in our country so as to bring about opportunities in employment. Some of the campaigns on this issue, in particular those run by SIPTU and the bearded ones run by ICTU, have sought to tell people currently in receipt of the minimum wage that their salaries will decrease, which is not true and everyone knows that. I heard many contributions in that regard last week. It behoves all of us in the House to be at the very least straight with people in regard to the situation.

When I left school in the early 1990s I was unemployed for a period. I know what it is like to be unemployed. Who knows what will happen after the next election. I know from talking to people in my constituency and beyond that what we must do is create opportunities for people to get back into the workforce. Opportunities have to be created for people to get back into the workforce. Thankfully, over the past three months, we have witnessed a significant drop in unemployment month on month. There are reasons for that, including emigration, unfortunately, but new jobs have been also created. In north Dublin, more than 3,500 new jobs were created this year. We have rightly had many debates on support for the indigenous SME sector, the cost of business, local authority rates and so on. Local authorities have an important role in this regard. Fingal County Council reduced the rate multiplier by 10% last year, yet this was opposed by Fine Gael. The reduction passed by only one vote, 12 to 11, at the time. Many of the Labour Party and Fianna Fáil councillors supported it and it has made a significant difference.

We have debated reducing the cost of energy but we have to get real and discuss the cost of employing people as well. Many forms of assistance are provided with more than 100,000 on the employment subsidy scheme, which involves the Government directly supporting jobs. The cost of living now is the same as in April 2007, according to the ESRI and independent observers, not the Government. The minimum wage is still the third highest in Europe and it has been increased by 55% since it was introduced, while inflation increased by 28% during the same period. These are cold hard facts, yet some Members say that people's salaries will be cut and the reduction in the minimum wage will be a disincentive to work. The wage for a 40-hour week based on the new minimum wage rate will be €306 compared to a social welfare payment of €188 per week. We must be aware of the social welfare trap in this regard.

The measure will generate nothing for the Exchequer and it is not about the Government trying to make more money. We are trying to make sure we support the businesses employing people in every town and village. We had debates about the restaurant sector and the Sunday premium rates, which have to be changed. This provision is killing businesses, particularly in rural Ireland and rural parts of my constituency. We must address these realities. Regardless of the composition of the next Government, if my colleagues in the Labour Party are in government, they will not reverse the decision because it would be seen as anti-employment, which it would be because it would mean an increase in costs for employers.

The intention is to get people back to work and this measure has been portrayed negatively in the media and political circles. I received text messages from SIPTU, which ran a round robin campaign on this saying we were robbing from the working poor. This change does not affect existing contracts. If anyone in the public gallery wants to discuss this, he or she should put his or her name on the ballot paper and run for election and we can debate it in the Chamber. That is a fact, whether anyone likes it or not. Approximately 1.8 million people are at work. Too many people have lost their jobs in the past two and a half years. It behoves all of us and any future Government, whatever its composition, to provide opportunities to get people back to work. Whether we like it or not, one of the issues is wage costs.

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