Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

It is interesting the Tánaiste has gone back half a century and used the 1970s for his analysis of inflation. He did not engage with the examples I gave him. They are real, new, fresh and are coming from the US and Europe, including from members of the executive board of the ECB. That in itself says much, as the Tánaiste engages with the Minister, about the weakness of his line of argument.

He talked about employers struggling to find staff. It is little wonder. Yesterday in Cork City an estate agent got nearly 1,000 inquiries in the space of one day for a property that had been put up - it was a full house - for rent at €2,750 per month. How can someone on the minimum wage, that the Tánaiste has just lauded, survive in a housing market like that? How could someone on €12.90 per hour survive in a housing market such as that? I put it to him again that is a powerful argument for further increasing the minimum wage to at least €15 per hour.

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