Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Without going over what I said earlier, the figure of €8.65 per hour up to 2015 speaks for itself. To get to the rate of €13 per hour in January of this year cost an extra €22.5 million.

Deputy Burton mentioned that there is a break in their contracts in the summer time and that many of them may possibly end up working longer than that during the summer. We all know how committed these people are. The discussion is now being held in the correct place. It has been debated on many occasions in this House over many decades, but we now have industrial relations mechanisms in place and the Workplace Relations Commission's recommendations. Once we receive the invitation to be a part of those discussions, we will be happy to do that.

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