Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

When I met the head of IDA Ireland in New York, he told me that himself. IDA Ireland cannot get them to move down the country; they want everything to be in Dublin. That is what the Government is driving.

The motion proposes a living wage of €12.30. Considerable complexity remains in dealing with the issue. It is not simple and the last thing we want to do is to make the situation worse, rather than better, for workers and employers. Ní neart go cur le chéile. Employees who are treated well and respected respond in kind. They will go the extra mile, as will their employer. However, there is a race to bottom with the big moguls in the meat and supermarket industries and even the equine industry. I salute the prowess of Coolmore Stud, but not the way it treats its workers. It gives them the lowest rates of pay, despite the billions it makes in profit. It wants to own the county, if not the country. It has 28,000 acres, a figure which is growing. Fine Gael is supporting it, as are my former colleagues in Fianna Fáil. It is grabbing up holdings. The landlord is back in place and it is to hell or to Connacht once more. No small family farm can compete with Coolmore Stud in buying land. It throws money here and there to GAA, soccer and rugby clubs, which we appreciate, but it is trying to buy silence. We will soon not have school, GAA, soccer or rugby teams. We will have nothing because the flight from the land is appalling. In the olden days when we had landlords and big farmers, they looked after their workers.

The companies to which I refer, such as meat producers, own their employees. If a worker has one little slip up or refuses to honour or obey a rule, he or she is out the door. That is how much such companies care about people.

This is complex legislation. It will not be easy to deal with this issue. While something definitely is needed, we must achieve a balance to ensure small employers can carry on, keep their workers and grow the economy.

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