Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her detailed response. I can summarise the position by saying that we have a genuine difference of ideology, which will not come as a terrible shock. Sinn Féin is a party of the left, while it is fair to describe Fine Gael as a party of the centre-right. I am being generous by using the word "centre".

I would like to go through some key points in response to Senator Paddy Burke and the Minister, beginning with the point the Minister made about the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017 which is currently making its way through the Houses. It received all-party support and rightly so. We supported it because we acknowledged the fact that the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission represent some progress. It gets rid of the discriminatory rate for people in their 20s, for example. We support that Bill because it is practical. It has been consistent Sinn Féin policy for some time to eliminate sub-minimum rates of pay. It was endorsed at our Ard-Fheis and that is why this Bill has been brought forward.

I want to place on record my thanks for the broad support for this principle from across this Chamber. I welcome the support of Fianna Fáil and the points it has made. I recognise the fact that the national minimum wage was brought in initially by Fianna Fáil. I particularly welcome the support of Senator Ged Nash, who has expertise in this area, and like myself has a very close relationship with the trade union movement. I hope I am correct in saying that on the day the Minister was appointed, she made reference to the fact that her own father was a trade union activist. She will know that equal pay for equal work is a key and core principle of the trade union movement. That is what we are asking for here and I am genuinely surprised that a Minister cannot accept that principle, particularly when, as Senator Nash has said, the ESRI has pointed out that young people will not drop out of education.

Implicit in the Minister's speech and in the remarks by Senator Paddy Burke is the view that it is fine if an experienced worker gets the national minimum wage. It sums up the ideological differences neatly. We on the left do not believe that is okay. If a person is working a bar or restaurant and has done that job for a number of years, it is not fine that he or she is on the national minimum wage. Such people's experience should be recognised. It is not recognised by bringing down the rates paid to younger people, but rather by enhancing the rates for experienced workers. When one reflects that the living wage is some €2 ahead of the national minimum wage the difficulty becomes clear. The message Fine Gael is sending this evening is that it is absolutely fine for an experienced worker to be on the national minimum wage, even though it is recognised that the national minimum wage is some €2 below a living wage. We are collectively saying that it is not fine and that it is not okay to discriminate against younger workers.

I am genuinely surprised that this Government is opposing equal pay for equal work. I expected that we would get broad support across this Chamber, and that has been the case. The only party not in line with this is Fine Gael, and I am genuinely surprised by that.