11. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will abolish subminimum wages for young workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6496/25]

Sentiment score: 0.01

Will the Minister finally abolish the legalised discrimination and super-exploitation of young people in this country who are currently legally paid as little as €9.50 an hour, purely on the basis of their age? Will he abolish these subminimum wage rates whereby those under 18 can legally be paid less than the minimum wage? The can has been kicked down the road for years now. It is time to abolish these rates.

Sentiment score: 0.05

The Minister of State says we should not rush into a decision. It is two years since this Dáil passed a Bill that I brought forward to abolish these rates. The Government brought in a timed amendment to delay it for a year so the Low Pay Commission could report. The Low Pay Commission studied it with the ESRI study, as the Minister of State said, and it came out with clear recommendations. The Minister of State says he agrees with the commission that the Government needs to consider it. Does he agree with the commission's very clear recommendation that subminimum wage rates for employees of 18 and 19 years of age should be abolished no sooner than 1 January 2025? Similarly, the rates for those under 18 should also be abolished. The recommendation is absolutely clear. Is the Minister of State saying business costs are a consideration here? If he is, he is going against the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission, which make clear that it would not stand up under EU law. The EU law on adequate minimum wages states that any exceptions need to have objective justification. Business costs and the Minister looking after low-paying employers does not count as an objective justification. He may well be in breach of the EU directive.

Sentiment score: 0.08

Where is the nuance? Will the Minister of State tell me why 18-year-olds should be legally paid 80% of the minimum wage? They cannot tell their landlord they will only pay 80% of the rent. They cannot give a supermarket 80% of the cost of their groceries. What is the objective justification for paying a young person less than the minimum wage purely on the basis of his or her age? When is the economic impact assessment going to happen? The Department officials came before the committee in September and said they had started it - it was another exercise in kicking the can down the road - and it would be ready in six to nine months. Six months have now passed. When is it going to be ready? It is time to stop kicking the can down the road. The issue is not enormously complex. It is clear we now have an obligation under the EU directive on minimum wages to get rid of this because there is no objective justification for it. That is what the Low Pay Commission is saying. Instead, the Department is allowing itself to just represent the interests of some of the lowest-paying employers in the country - people who want to employ workers on less than the minimum wage. There is no objective justification for that. It is fundamentally unjust.

Sentiment score: -0.02