Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk about young people's work. I have been an employer for many years and as an employer I know too well that Friday evening comes very fast. I believe in paying people equally for the same type of work but there is a thing called starting off and training people and getting them used to rules and regulations. They have to be up for that. In all this talk, we have to appreciate employers in the same way as we appreciate workers. We are in the market now and the workers are in that market. If the workers are not paid properly, they will not stay and that is a fact. Yes, we have to recognise equal pay for equal work but we also have to recognise that youngsters have to be trained. I love youngsters starting off. I love giving them a job and my son carries on in the same vein in work today. We must appreciate the employers as well because if employers are left to pay an exorbitant rate from the very start, they will employ fewer people. There is only so much money to go around to make ends meet. I do not know how many people the Members have employed in their time. I value employing people. I recognise that I have to pay them and they will have to be paid because their families depend on them. Whether it is a young lad making a few bob to go back to college or back to school, they all need their money and they have to get it. If employers do not pay them, they will not stay with that employer. That is a fact. This is only a publicity stunt.

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