Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach says it will not be a disaster here, so maybe we will ask for a commitment on this. The companies that got the contracts in the UK have been the subject of an investigation by the National Audit Office regarding their financial claims about the numbers on the schemes and this and that. It has become a major topic of debate in the House of Commons. One of the companies that got the contract is called Seetec.

Seetec is the company that was given the contract here for JobPath, another labour activation scheme. We will watch this Fit to Work scheme very carefully. The members of the media should watch this attempt to take the road that was taken by the UK. In reality it is a scandal in the making, and we will watch it carefully.

The document makes some important points about the minimum wage, which is to be €10.50 within a five-year period. Let us break that down. It is less than a 30 cent increase per year for five years. In a country where more than one worker in five is officially low paid, where a huge proportion of those below the poverty line are the working poor, where a greater percentage of our workforce is officially low paid than that of any other country in the western world with the exception of the United States of America and where the costs of housing and rents are skyrocketing, the proposal is for a 30 cent increase in the minimum wage per annum. This is shameful stuff. Clearly, what is needed is an immediate increase in the minimum wage to €12 as a step in the direction of it being €14 shortly after that.

Deputy Coveney will take responsibility for housing. There is no mention of council housing in the document. It appears that social housing for the new Government will mean the privatisation of social housing, the housing assistance scheme and the like. Is the Government, in reality, suggesting the abolition of council housing during a housing emergency? Speaking of the housing emergency, the document indicates that there will be NAMA funds to provide affordable housing directly. That is good, but when will it happen? After 2018. Does the Government not realise there is a housing emergency in the State at present? How on earth can it talk about 2018 for those projects to begin?

There is a kick to touch on the eighth amendment by means of a citizens' convention. Members of Fine Gael were leaking to the media in a boastful way, promoting the idea overnight that they had resisted the opposition of Independent Deputies to scrap a convention on this. However, with such a narrow majority in the House, will the Government be looking over its shoulders at rural Deputies, in particular, with strong anti-abortion views? That kick to touch will take even longer than many might think. That will not be acceptable on this side of the House.

The Anti-Austerity Alliance-People Before Profit will offer strong, vigorous and independent opposition to the new Government and its policies. It will be a radical left opposition. We have led the opposition on the streets over the years in the boycott campaign and the campaign against the water charge, which has had such successes in recent weeks. We will continue to campaign outside this House but also to provide strong, vigorous and independent left opposition within the House.

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