Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

As Deputy Higgins says, there is not much point in asking questions about legislation when the questioner has already presumed the answer. The answer to the Deputy's question is "No". The reversal of the cut in the national minimum wage is not conditional on anything. It is a commitment that was given in the programme for Government and it is being delivered in the manner I have described.

There is a separate issue, the review of the joint labour committee system. A commitment was given in the programme for Government, too, that there would be a review of the joint labour committee system and the employment regulation order system that applies to it. An independent review of the system has been under way for some time, headed by Mr. Kevin Duffy, chairman of the Labour Court. That review is due to report in the next couple of weeks and when it does the outcome will be considered by the Government.

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