Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I am quite struck by the Minister’s answer. I was asking about 17-year-olds getting paid €8.89 an hour - poverty wages - and she spent probably three quarters of her answer talking about all the supports for businesses that Fine Gael is going to provide. There is legalised super-exploitation of young workers taking place right now. The Government has a commission report which looked into all the things she spoke about. It looked into the impact on employment and said there is no real impact on employment. It looked into the impact on businesses and said there is no real impact on businesses. It looked into these things and made a clear recommendation. The Minister stated, however, that the Government will consider it further, despite the fact that it has just been considered by a bunch of experts. She does not display the same reticence when it comes to supports for businesses. The Government was not slow to tell businesses not to worry because it was going to delay the sick pay days or in signalling that the Government would not increase the minimum wage and would increase the PRSI threshold to benefit employers.

Small businesses lose from low pay as well, to be clear. These young workers, if they were paid properly, would be spending their money in small businesses. Why the reticence to act in the face of this unjust treatment, discrimination and exploitation, which most likely will not stand up in the context of the EU directive on adequate minimum wages? That point was also made by the Low Pay Commission. This is extremely simple. We have the People Before Profit Bill for equal pay for young workers. It should be progressed immediately. We should do away with this exploitation.

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