Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join the Deputy in welcoming the fact that the State's appeal was successful and now gives us assurance that SEOs are constitutional. We plan to have some more of them. The Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy English, has launched the process to have one quite soon in the area of childcare.

I will be happy to receive that evidence and information from the Deputy. Of course, local authorities and public bodies should be compliant and should not pay below the legal minimum rates. They are not just agreed rates or union rates. They are the legal minimum rates in those sectors and they must be applied.

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