Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)

I recently heard the slogan "kissing up and kicking down", which is a US expression. To my mind, this Bill is licking ass to the EU-IMF, the wealthy and business elite here and in Europe while at the same time putting the boot in on the most vulnerable, namely, people on low wages, welfare and State pensions.

Like other speakers, I welcome the restoration of the minimum wage, which is badly needed. However, it is not welcome as a sop or trade-off for putting the boot in on workers on JLCs or EROs. JLCs were introduced because of a high level of exploitation and lack of rights in specific areas of the economy. This situation has not changed. If on a low wage, overtime and pension rates are extremely important. Prior to my election to this House I worked as a postwoman and knew many postmen and postwomen who had to apply for FIS and relied on overtime to feed their families and pay their mortgages. The logic behind all these measures, the approach of this and the previous Government and the IMF-EU is clear, namely, to drive down wages for working people, drive down welfare rates to incentivise people to go into low-paid dead-end jobs and to introduce workfare.

I agree that welfare fraud is a crime and that this matter needs to be addressed. However, is it not the case that there is widespread abuse of the welfare system by employers who are paying low wages knowing full well that people are also claiming welfare? Has there been any attempt to identify the scale of this abuse by employers and what penalties are in place in this regard? What resources will be allocated to identify such employers? If these employers did not exist, there would be no social welfare fraud. It seems the only penalties are for those on welfare, the most vulnerable of people who are trying to earn extra money.

I too have concerns in regard to the Tús scheme for the reasons outlined by the previous speaker, Deputy Flanagan. I do not want potential real jobs to be replaced by work experience and workfare, which is another means of driving down wages. We learned this from the FÁS training schemes which were abused over a number of years. I am opposed to that aspect of the legislation. I feel compelled to vote against this Bill on the basis of those elements of it, while supporting the restoration of the minimum wage.

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