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

I wish to add a few brief words to what has been said about Christy Dignam. I think many people in this country were touched by the news of his passing yesterday. He had a great voice and sang bel canto. He was a fine songwriter. He was a poet, really. He would remind you a lot of another great Dubliner, namely, Philip Lynott. Christy overcame much adversity in his life.

He was a working-class man with a very authentic voice and an ability to articulate what others might only feel. Many people feel sometimes that everybody hits you and everybody knocks you down, and a lot of those people in particular felt the loss of Christy Dignam last night. Rest in peace, Christy.

It falls to me to respond to some of the points made by the Minister of State. The Government is proposing to postpone a decision on this for 12 months. It has before it a Bill which argues against discrimination. Have no doubt, this is about discrimination on grounds of age. You cannot discriminate on grounds of gender, religion, ethnicity – at least not legally – but the Government has allowed a situation where a person can be discriminated against in the workplace on the grounds of age. Confronted with that injustice by the People Before Profit-Solidarity Bill, what is the Government’s reply to young workers? We will come back to it in 12 months' time. Justice delayed is justice denied. That is a very poor position and one that will be noted by many young people and young workers in this country.

Of course, the minimum wage as it stands is far too low, at €11.30 an hour. Anyone who would argue that anyone can survive in this cost-of-living crisis on €11.30 an hour is not in touch with the real world. In reality, a real living wage would be about 50% more than that, at a minimum of €16. If there is minimum wage legislation, even if the number is completely inadequate, then at the very least everyone should get the minimum rate. Yet, if someone is 17 years old, an employer can legally pay him or her €7.91 an hour. If someone is 18 years, an employer can legally pay him or her €9.04 an hour, and if someone is 19 years of age and in the second year of employment, an employer can legally pay him or her €10.17 an hour. That is wrong. We are not the only ones who are saying it is wrong. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has said it is wrong, as has the National Youth Council of Ireland and the groups that are represented in the Gallery which were named by Deputy Boyd Barrett. Here is another interesting one which says it is wrong: the European Committee of Social Rights. A very significant European Union body has said the Government’s policy in not consistent with the European Social Charter. I think it is Article 4.1. The European Social Charter says no one should be paid less than half the average wage, but an 18- or 19-year-old on those sub-minimum rates is paid less than that. The Minister of State could summon an emergency meeting of the Low Pay Commission and ask it to examine these issues and to move with great speed and the support of the Government and the Dáil to right that wrong, but instead it chooses to kick the can down the road for 12 months. It is a kick in the teeth for young people.

We are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. Many young people live away from the family home and are making their own way in the world, and there are many others who, because of the housing crisis, are forced to live in the family home but are making a significant financial contribution at home. There are also many young people under the age of 20 years who are mothers and fathers and have families themselves. They are asked to survive in a cost-of-living crisis on sub-minimum rates which can be anywhere between €7.90 and €10.17. It is a disgrace. When they go to Tesco on a Friday night, does the Minister of State think that when the till is rung up and they are asked to pay the bill, they can say they only receive 80% of the minimum wage and ask if it is okay if they pay only 80% of the bill? Or that when the landlord comes knocking on the door, looking for the rent – I am betraying my age by giving that example – or when the day comes for the rent to be transferred into the landlord’s bank account, they can send a text message to the landlord to say they are on only 90% of the minimum wage so would the landlord accept 90% of the rent until they are 20 years old? How are young people expected to survive in a cost-of-living crisis on wages of this kind?

I will not burden the debate with a whole lot of facts, figures and statistics but I will give a few that are worth thinking about. One young worker in three under the age of 24 years earns less than €20,000 a year. One young worker in five, excluding students, earns less than €20,000. One young worker in three under the age of 25 years is a temporary worker. This is poverty pay that young people are being forced to endure. Because I am a person who sees the silver lining in every cloud, I do see an opportunity here. It is for the trade union movement. The trade union movement should look at this issue very carefully. How many young workers under the age of 24 are members of trade unions? It is fewer than one in seven, or 14%, according to the Smurfit business school in UCD. Were there to be a vote in a workplace on whether or not to join a union, the percentage of young workers who would vote in favour of bringing in a union is 65%. That is more than 4.5 times the numbers who are actually unionised. No other age cohort in the country indicated a higher degree of support for unionising their workplace than the 18 to 24 group. I will say clearly and openly, the trade union movement in this country has not done nearly enough to campaign and fight for the rights of young workers. There is an opportunity here to redress that with a campaign to abolish these youth exemptions and for a decent, realistic minimum wage in this country that would be far beyond what we have now or even the official living wage rates. It is a challenge and an opportunity for the trade union movement which I hope it takes up.

Of course, the easiest way to go about this is for the Government to withdraw its amendment, allow this Bill to pass tonight and pass speedily pass through the Houses of the Oireachtas, and to abolish the sub-minimum rates for young workers. However, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party have set their faces against that. It sends a clear message to young people and the unions that they need to organise, organise and organise again.

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