Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 220: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the minimum wages that apply in younger age categories and in training positions and the number of persons working at those rates [35594/10]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The minimum rates of pay which are applicable to workers under the age of 18 and to workers in training positions are set out in the following table. Estimates from the Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs Survey, as undertaken by the Central Statistics Office, indicate that there were approximately 47,000 employees paid at or below the national minimum wage of €8.65 per hour as of the first quarter of 2010. This represented 3.1% of all employees. The available data does not distinguish between those on the adult minimum wage and those on sub-minimum rates, i.e. under 18s and trainees.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 221: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the number of persons working at the adult minimum wage; the number of employers who have claimed inability to pay and if he has accessed the practicality of the design of the inability to pay provisions for employers in difficulty [35595/10]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Estimates from the Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs Survey, as undertaken by the Central Statistics Office, indicate that there were approximately 47,000 employees paid at or below the national minimum wage of €8.65 per hour as of the first quarter of 2010. This represented 3.1% of all employees. The available data does not distinguish between those on the adult minimum wage and those on sub-minimum rates, i.e. under 18's and trainees.

I understand that no inability to pay claim by an employer has been submitted to the Labour Court under Section 41 of the National Minimum Wage Act 2000 to date. The inability to pay mechanism under the National Minimum Wage Act was designed to ensure a balance between a mechanism to provide relief to employers in difficulty on the one hand and ensuring that the minimum wage itself is not eroded on the other hand. While I am open to views on the practicality of the mechanism, my priority at present is to seek to introduce an inability to pay mechanism in EROs and REAs, as these are in sectors with generally higher rates than the national minimum wage.