Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

-----have a negative impact on lower-paid people and those who were governed by the minimum wage. Equally, we also were led to believe at the time that it would only apply to new entrants. This point has been conveniently forgotten by the other side of the House while explaining away the proposed JLC reform put forward by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton. All Members accept the JLCs should be reformed and the Duffy-Walsh report clearly states there should be a number of reforms.

Fianna Fáil seeks a full and open debate in this House in which all Members will have an opportunity to express their views or to highlight concerns they may have regarding the proposals set out by the Minister, Deputy Bruton, which will come before the Cabinet soon. For all these reasons, I genuinely believe that if the Government is to be honest, accountable and transparent in the context of the promises that were made before the general election about ensuring that this Chamber would be the place in which policies would be announced, debated and pronounced, then the Duffy-Walsh report certainly should be placed on the floor of the House in order that Members can have a proper and open discussion in which everyone may express his or her view. This may help the Minister in the context of the agonising decisions he must make to try to keep some of the Labour Party Members on side and will give them an opportunity to express their views to enable him to water it down.

However, the most significant point in this regard and the issue I find most hard to accept is that the proposals regarding the JLCs and the reduction in pay and premiums for people who work on Sundays also constitute an attack on the lowest-paid people. Just as the Minister and many others asserted that the reduction in the minimum wage was an attack, this proposal constitutes a fundamental attack on more than 200,000 people who are governed by the JLC payment system. Each Member must decide on this issue in the future, when these proposals come to the House by sleight of hand to be rammed through by a Government with a massive majority. This will take place without providing an opportunity for Members to debate the issue before the decision is made to change the JLCs and to reduce the pay of the lowest paid, as already has been asserted by many Members on the Government side of the House when they were over here in the comfort of the Opposition benches. There should be honest and open debate on all these issues.

I wish the internship programme well, because it is a worthwhile initiative that I genuinely hope will be taken up and implemented as quickly as possible. It was announced by the previous Government and I do not mind who announces such initiatives, provided that they are implemented and have an impact. I encourage the Government to move forward the initiative as quickly as possible to give 5,000 people the opportunity to take up the aforementioned internships. The current Administration's continuance of a programme announced by its predecessor in the budget last December constitutes a positive aspect. Much material relevant to this Bill, which will implement the jobs initiative, has been omitted from it and, to date, I can only find the changes pertaining to PRSI, the minimum wage and a few other issues. It really is a paltry announcement and response to what is a serious issue, particularly given the commitments and promises that were made when the Government parties were in opposition.

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