Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

I welcome yesterday's announcement on the minimum wage and I am glad to see that on this matter, at least, the Government's U-turn has come the full 360 degrees. I understand the matter will be addressed in the revised bailout agreement between the Government and the IMF. However, the proposal on the minimum wage was joined by one to cut the wages and conditions of almost 240,000 workers currently protected under the JLC system such as cleaners, workers in the security industry, agriculture and so on. It seems obvious that this was the price demanded by the IMF to reverse the cut in the minimum wage.

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