Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

In speaking in favour of the Bill I want to begin by saying I see it as a small step towards a more inclusive society. I congratulate the Minister on her imaginative way of using a relatively small amount of money. The previous Government sought to downgrade the standard of living of our most vulnerable by cutting the minimum wage and I am delighted to see it is being restored to its original rate.

Given that we live in recessionary times it is important that Government initiatives are driven by a desire to make Ireland a fairer and more equal society. There are two reasons for doing that. First, it is the right way to treat people and, second, as an excellent book entitled The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett demonstrates, more equal societies work better for everybody, whether they be rich or poor. I recommend that every Deputy read that book because it is a comparative work and demonstrates what is happening in various countries around the world.

Unfortunately, the Government will have to introduce painful cuts in the days ahead and the only way this will be regarded as broadly acceptable will be if the Government is seen to be acting fairly. This means that on the one hand the better off will have to take the brunt of the cuts while on the other hand, the less well off and excluded will have to be protected as much as possible. I see this Bill as addressing the second point. The Labour Party stands for a more equal and more caring society and to that end I very much welcome the reversal of the shameful decision to cut the pay of those on the lowest wages who go to work every day.

I want to address the national internship scheme and put some points to the Minister that I would like her to consider before the passage of the Bill proceeds further. I very much welcome this proposal and hope that it will help to keep some of our best and brightest people from emigrating, and will also help other people throughout society. However, the scheme must be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that employers are not taking advantage of vulnerable interns. To that end, I ask the Minister to clarify the provisions that have been made to ensure that employers are not taking on interns, using their labour for the duration of the stay and then not taking them on as full employees at the end of that time but taking on another new intern and repeating that process indefinitely.

As I understand it, the scheme proposed by the previous Government provided that placements would last for six to nine months, which an employer could fill a maximum of three times. I suggest that the duration of placements be increased from nine to 12 months so that an employer can only replace an intern once. This would be better for the intern and ensure that the scheme is not used by employers.

Sections 17 and 18 will ensure that social welfare fraudsters will pay the full price for ripping off the country, something that should lead to more resources being made available for those who really need them. I am surprised that there has not been more focus on this aspect, given the number of complaints I received about the issue during the general election campaign.

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