Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)

I support the motion. The proposals from the Minister are an outlandish attack on the most vulnerable people in society, namely, the low paid and their families. It is important to paint a background to the current situation. The current Government, which has taken over from the previous Fianna Fáil and Green Party Government, has effectively carried on the EU and IMF deal even though Fine Gael and the Labour Party said during the course of the election that it was a bad deal for Ireland and would be renegotiated. They gave the impression that it would be thrown out. However, having entered Government, they have now embraced the deal and are effectively fleecing taxpayers and workers to pay for a recession which those taxpayers and workers had no hand, act or part in creating. It is worth reminding ourselves that the EU and IMF deal is not, as I have said before, a Good Samaritan helping out a neighbour in trouble. European banks, in particular British, French and German banks, are fleecing Irish taxpayers to pay their bad gambling debts. They want an each way bet and now they want the Irish taxpayer and low-paid workers to pay for the debts.

During the course of the general election we were told repeatedly by Fine Gael and the Labour Party that the most vulnerable in society would be protected if they got into Government. The attack on low-paid workers, JLCs and payment structures is far from protecting the most vulnerable. It is a direct attack on very low-paid workers and children who in many cases are on the poverty line. As Deputy Collins said, the current Minister, Deputy Noonan, indicated during the course of the election what he meant when he said he wanted to protect workers. He said:

These are women who clean the offices in the morning. These are the women who serve food at weddings or hotel functions, who do the washing-up and go home before the dancing to their families.

It is these women and their families that this attack on the JLCs is affecting.

Another issue is consistent poverty, which affects children in particular. Deputy Collins has given some indication of that. In Ireland, one in ten children, that is, 100,000 or over 9%, lives in consistent property. About 230,000, or 22.75%, live in relative poverty. These statistics refer to the very families who are covered by JLCs. The proposal to change JLCs is an attack on very low-paid people while the super rich who have significant levels of income get off scot free.

There are figures which show that the top 5% of the super rich in this country have approximately €250 billion worth of assets. They do not pay a ha'penny in taxes on wealth or assets, yet we have this type of attack on the lowest paid workers in the country. Recent figures from the Central Statistics Office show that personal assets, apart from houses, land or businesses, increased by €27 billion in 2009 and probably by the same amount in 2010, yet not a single cent has been taken from people with large assets in a tax on wealth or assets. Other countries in the EU and the United States have a tax on wealth but the Government prefers to attack low-paid workers.

The case has been made time and again by people in support of these cuts that competitiveness and wage costs in Ireland are out of line. Far from being the case, all the statistics show that labour costs in Ireland are significantly less than those in other European countries. EUROSTAT data revealed that labour costs in the hospitality and wholesale sectors lagged behind the average of the 15 EU member states in nominal terms and purchasing power parity. Labour costs in the hospitality sector are about 11.4% below the EU average. In the wholesale and retail sector, labour costs are 10.9% below the EU average and are in the sixth lowest place. Comparatively speaking, Irish labour costs are significantly less than in other European countries. The 240,000 or 250,000 people covered by JLCs are among the lowest paid in the country. The OECD stated that Ireland has a greater instance of low pay than the EU average. Restaurant workers are paid about 6% below the average. Far from saving or creating jobs, the proposals of the Minister, Deputy Bruton, will destroy them.

Reductions in the income of the poorest section of the Irish workforce will depress demand further and cause more closures and unemployment. People on low wages spend every last ha'penny of their income in this country and their locality. If one walks down the main street of any town, one will find shops closed for business because demand has been depressed. This is destroying jobs and businesses. Taking more money from the pockets of low-paid workers will further depress demand, leading to more unemployment and the closure of more businesses.

The JLC rates protect good employers from being undercut and driven out of business by those who are trying to make a quick buck at the expense of their employees. The proposal to introduce an inability to pay clause will inevitably lead to the collapse of the entire JLC system. The Minister's proposals are part of an employer strategy to drive down wages across the economy, while the financial assets of the super rich remain untouched by tax and are allowed to grow exponentially.

Other elements of the proposals will depress demand. The contention that existing employees will not be affected by the proposals is grossly misleading. The proposal to discontinue annual increments of service pay or craft pay is a major attack on low-paid workers. It will depress demand, as well as causing unemployment and the closure of businesses.

I come from the town of Clonmel where in 1912 James Connolly and Jim Larkin proposed to the Irish Trade Union Congress that the principle of independent political representation of workers should be established on a 32-county basis by a Labour Party. The centenary of the Labour Party will be celebrated next year, but will income reductions for the lowest paid mark that anniversary? Connolly and Larkin were addressing the evils of low pay and poverty when they founded the Labour Party in Clonmel in 1912. I hope, therefore, that tomorrow night Labour Party Deputies will vote against these proposals and show that this is a red line issue for them.

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