Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

The most important point the Minister of State made was that as a consequence of the budget and the Bill, the black economy would flourish even more. Senator O'Toole is correct in stating it is more like one in 20 people are on the national minimum wage. The Minister of State spoke about C2 agreements, etc., but how many of them are at national minimum wage level? He also spoke about businesses struggling, but I suggest very few are struggling as a consequence of the level at which the national minimum wage has been set. Let us consider two segments with many working on the national minimum wage: retail and hospitality. I talk to people in Cork city who advise me that they are struggling not because of the national minimum wage but because consumer confidence is low and they are not spending. In addition, credit for small businesses is being frozen by the banks. There is also employers' PRSI, on which my party made a proposal. There is the issue of VAT on labour-intensive activities. None of these is part of the national minimum wage argument.

The reduction in the national minimum wage equates to approximately €2,080 per annum. I will outline to the Minister of State some statistics and if I am missing something, I will happily vote with the Government. The level of male unemployment is 16.7%, or one in six. Men aged under 25 years account for one third of that number. Some 6.5% of the workforce are long-term unemployed, five times the 2007 figure. Some 84% of the job losses affected people under the age of 35 years, 55% of whom are under the age of 25.

I return to my core point which concerns the philosophy in which I believe. The job of the Government is to protect the vulnerable, particularly those in low income jobs. The Minister of State's argument makes no economic or social sense. Even the Republicans in the House of Congress are not voting to cut the minimum wage. They signed a deal with President Obama last week to keep the middle-class tax cut alive. However, the Government works from the mantra that if we fix the deficit and the banks, everything will be okay, but it forgot one ingredient - the people. What is money? Why do people need money? The problem is that the 18 or so people around the Cabinet table are so cocooned that they have lost sight of the ordinary common person who struggles.