Another empty promise from Halligan on low pay – Nash
Labour Party spokesperson on Employment and Social Protection, Senator Ged Nash has said that Independent Alliance Minister John Halligan has made another ’empty promise’ on the living wage on the national airwaves.
Senator Nash said:
“It is time John Halligan started to behave like a Minister and deliver on the things he tells the media he believes in.
“In an interview today the Minister of State at the Department of Jobs indicated that the National Minimum Wage of €9.25 should be converted to a Living Wage of €13 per hour.
“This comes from a member of a Government that introduced a miserable 10 cent an hour increase for the lowest paid workers in Ireland this year.
“Minister Halligan is clearly making use of the silly season to lament his Government’s lack of action on low pay.
“We already know that the Fine Gael and the Independent Alliance are making progress at a snail’s pace to reach their own target of a National Minimum Wage of €10.50 per hour.
“As Minister Halligan publicly struggles with his conscience yet again, many low paid workers continue the more important struggle with rent, mortgages and household bills.
“Nothing we have seen to date from the Independent Alliance will give the low paid any real hope that the scourge of low pay, uncertain hours and insecurity will be tackled in any meaningful way by this government.
“The chocolate teapots in the Independent Alliance and John Halligan especially have been indulged for long enough, and here we have another empty promise from them on people’s livelihoods.”