Niall Ó Brolcháin (Green Party)

As it will be within the Minister's power to vary the minimum wage rate, the safeguards built into the Bill will not be as important as the decisions made by Governments. Ireland has the second highest minimum wage in Europe, after France. It was put in place to safeguard the lowest paid workers in our society and reduce poverty levels. The minimum wage is important and I am glad it was not simply abolished but it should be considered in the context of wider efforts to remove anomalies that create further poverty traps.

We should also introduce a maximum wage which is linked to the minimum wage. This budget attempts to introduce a maximum wage of €250,000 in the public service but a considerable amount of work remains to be done on wage structures in this country. Benchmarking was a serious mistake and the Croke Park agreement is unsustainable. This Bill fails to address the country's wage structure in a holistic fashion.