Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Was the Government not a bit concerned when it was giving an €81,000 pay hike to Robert Watt of the potential for a knock-on consequential claim out of that? Was it happy it could ring-fence it and just do it for one person? The Government was not one bit concerned about the impact that was going to have on wages. In fact, unfettered, the man seems to be granted endless pay rises. We know he has had at least three in the past while. They do not come from nothing as they are granted by the Government. Out of one side of its mouth the Government says there is plenty of money for those to whom it chooses to give it and out of the other side it preaches wage restraint to low-income workers. With the cost of living going the way it is, wage restraint means workers in this State, after 40 hours of work, are making the choice between heating their homes or paying for their groceries. The Government's wage restraint and the fact it is preaching that to workers is causing workers to be in impoverished and intolerable circumstances because of inflation. Not alone does the Government want them to work to the age of 67, 68, 69 or 80 years - where it is going to end we do not know - but after 40 hours of work, on their feet in many instances, the Government has absolutely no problem with workers getting poverty wages for it.

This motion calls for an emergency review of the minimum wage. For the Government to accept that, it would have to admit there was an emergency. The evidence of it is all around us but I refer to the remarks made by a Minister of State from the present Minister of State's own party. I hasten to add when that party's back was to the wall, or when it believed it was, it cut the minimum wage and did it nice and quickly and was not worried about the impact on the broader economy then. It did not create a single job. It merely made working people poorer. From that same party comes the call to shop around. Imagine that. People will be shopping around for a new Government because they cannot take much more of this. That the Minister of State would come in here and preach wage restraint to people who cannot afford to heat their own homes is shocking.

I urge Members to support the Sinn Féin amendment. We need to move towards a living wage. The Government's term of office is nearly half over and we do not yet have any concrete moves on that.

See this speech in context