Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

The Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, opened his contribution in reply to our Bill by recalling the words spoken exactly a year ago by the then president of the Labour Party, Michael D. Higgins, when he invoked the history of the Labour Party and the 1913 Dublin lock-out. What a pity, then, that the Minister of State went on in the very next passage of his speech to say:

Ultimately, it could serve only to expose the taxpayer and employers to additional burdens while also, ironically, acting as a chill factor to the creation of vitally necessary new employment in the State.

Where have we heard the phrases "a burden to taxpayers and employers" and "a chill factor to new employment" before? All of this was said on the minimum wage and before that to a host of measures introduced over decades to protect the rights, the pay and the conditions of workers.

In December 2010, the Labour Party put forward a Private Members' motion to reverse the reduction in the minimum wage introduced by the then Fianna Fáil-led Government.

See this speech in context