Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

In recent weeks workers at Glen Dimplex in Portadown have been on strike for a pay increase of 27p an hour. It is ironic in a bitter way when one considers the fact one of its bosses is Martin Naughton, a billionaire ranked only ten days ago by the Irish Independentas the 11th richest man in Ireland. The 27p increase would bring these workers up to stg£8.70 an hour, in other words, the official UK poverty line.

In this State, workers' wages are nothing to write home about. Hundreds of thousands of working people here are earning less than the €11.90 living wage rate. The programme for Government references reducing poverty levels by increasing the minimum wage to €10.50 per hour over a five year timeframe. Will the Taoiseach agree that this plan, already inadequate from the get-go, has been overtaken by the skyrocketing cost of accommodation and that next year, rather than keeping the minimum wage below the €10 per hour rate, it should be increased to the living wage rate at a minimum?

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