Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)

The minimum wage was established just over a quarter of a century ago, in April 2000, two years before the first euro notes and coins were circulated in Ireland. Just like the euro, the minimum wage has become an accepted and crucial element of our economy. At the time of its introduction, no political party represented in the Oireachtas opposed it. It was recognised as an essential tool in the ongoing battle against social exclusion. It is hard to recall those times now, but 25 years ago in Ireland the wages for the lowest paid workers were firmly on the floor. Throughout the eighties the gap between the 10% lowest and 10% highest paid workers was greater in Ireland than in any other European country. Despite the birth of the Celtic tiger, the same trend continued into the nineties and a consensus developed that wages needed to increase. Higher wages did not cause the recessions of the 1980s, they did not cause the 2008 crash, and they did not cause the shortage of builders and tradespeople which has meant we now face into the housing catastrophe we have been in for a number of years. Higher wages, despite what some neoliberal thinking might want us to think, certainly does not cause inflation. Better wages do not cause economic turbulence and uncertainty or inflation. On the contrary, if we look at our history, we can see that the times when we enjoyed the most prosperity as a nation were the periods when we deliberately and systematically increased the spending power of the least-well off. This is what the minimum wage does. It raises the boats on all tides. It is often repeated and it is the truth that the people who have the least money spend the most locally, so increasing the wages of those at the bottom of the economic pyramid circulates more money in the local and national economy, driving sustainable community growth and employment. We have seen a roll-back on workers rights with this Government, which is very disappointing. We have seen a roll-back on pensions, on sick pay and on trade union recognition. The most pertinent of all those roll-backs was the move from the minimum wage to the living wage. I am not going to talk about the living wage today. I am going bring attention back to the minimum wage and to the legally binding minimum wage to provide some level of protection to those who need it most. It does not include apprenticeships and interns.

My predecessor in the Labour Party as spokesperson on workers' rights, Deputy Marie Sherlock, introduced a number of Bills during the last Seanad which are currently awaiting Committee Stage, namely, the National Minimum Wage (Inclusion of Apprentices) Bill 2023 and the National Minimum Wage (Payment of Interns) Bill 2022.These Bills address the patently unfair situation of people, often young people, carrying out exactly the same work as someone else but being paid less than the minimum wage. As we all know, the current minimum wage is €13.50 per hour, but I have seen jobs advertised online for apprentice electricians offering as little as €9 per hour, which is even less than the €9.45 per hour rate for under-18s. I know from working in MSLETB and in training centres that it is very hard to get people to start off on the minimum wage. It is fine that people's wages go up when they are in training programmes, but they may have to give up their current job or even have to move somewhere else, because it is often hard to find someone to take you on as an employe. If you are then being paid minimum wage, it is virtually impossible for many. In the middle of a housing crisis, there is a struggle to get people to take up apprenticeships. Young people want to earn. They want to start working in trades but last year, SOLAS reported that around 20% of apprentices failed to complete their apprenticeships, with sub-minimum rates of pay being given much of the blame. This brings me to the difference between an internship and an apprenticeship. I know this from doing unpaid work experience when I was a student. It is virtually impossible to live. You are double-jobbing trying to do an unpaid internship or work experience while having to do another job at the same time. Any good employer would say it does not have to be done like this. If an employer is willing to take someone on, they should at least be paid the minimum wage.