Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, on the comments by the previous Taoiseach on trying to make Ireland the best small country in which to build a business and to work, I stand corrected if I am wrong, but my understanding is we have the second highest minimum wage in Europe now, and we are very proud to have that. At the same time, we are maintaining a competitive economy that is creating jobs every single day.

That is not an easy thing to do and we will continue to try to manage an economy that protects workers' rights and pays them a decent wage for a week's work. We will continue to take independent advice on where the minimum wage should be and act on that as a Government. At the same time, we will continue to talk to employers about the supports they need to be able to build and grow competitive businesses out of Ireland. That approach has worked very well in the last seven years. We have seen unemployment fall from over 15% to just over 5%, and it is continuing to fall month on month. That is the approach we will continue to take.

In respect of the approach of the HSE in the other issue the Deputy mentioned, those matters are well understood and debated at this stage.

See this speech in context