Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Let me start by saying it is disgraceful how the Government has used Brexit to block a rise in the minimum wage. We are talking about 30 cent an hour. At the same time, it managed to raise the carbon tax and did nothing to tackle rents or the cost of living.

We have a government that looks after the wealthy and continues to hand out tax breaks to the well-connected. There is this thing the Government always does, whereby it likes to keep people at the bottom. In the budget, the Government had an opportunity to do something about it but did not because that is its mentality.

It is called a living wage for a reason, because you have to live off that wage; not that anyone on the Government side would know about that, understand it or have any compassion for it whatsoever. They even tried to block the National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017, which was designed to make sure that workers actually get their tips. For Fine Gael, that was a step too far until the Minister was embarrassed into drafting her own heads of Bill.

What did she offer up in committee last week? She tried to pass off a few notes from the Restaurants Association of Ireland as some great progressive move.

I believe in paying people a decent wage for a decent day's work. Today, that means paying people, at a minimum, €12.30 per hour. Nobody should have any concerns about workers having a living wage. How can we stand over a situation where workers do not have the ability to meet basic needs? That is neither fair nor sustainable.

What is it about a living wage that scares Fine Gael so much? All full-time work should provide an income to enable people to afford a socially acceptable standard of living and pay their bills at the end of the week. The living wage is a figure that tells them they should be able to afford the essentials of life. That is all people ask.

Nobody should work 40 hours a week and be unable to pay bills, afford somewhere to live or to go to the doctor if he or she is ill. It is incredible that there are still Members who believe it is acceptable for that to be the case. Shame on them.

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