Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Not only do I want to look after the people who are most vulnerable, which is what we have done very effectively, I also want to look after workers. We cannot keep screwing workers either if that is what Fianna Fáil policy is. We must give some recognition for work and allow people to have a decent take-home wage as opposed to a headline wage. That is a reality too so we must strike a balance. We have struck it reasonably well - protecting all core social welfare payments and DEIS schools, reversing the previous Government's disastrous decision to cut the minimum wage for the poorest workers in the country and taking the lowest cohort of wage earners out of the universal social charge. By any analysis, this Government made progressive decisions to undo the regressive decisions the previous Government made.

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