Labour introduces bill to end pay discrimination for young people and apprentices
Labour introduces bill to end pay discrimination for young people and apprentices - The Labour Party
- National Minimum Wage (Inclusion of Young Persons, Apprentices and Interns) Bill 2025 would address issues of sub-minimum rates for young workers, and end exploitation of apprentices and interns
- End pay discrimination for those under 20 years of age
- Ensure apprentices and interns are entitled to at least minimum wage
- Bill to be debated in Seanad next Wednesday 17th December
The Seanad will debate the Labour Party’s National Minimum Wage (Inclusion of Young Persons, Apprentices and Interns) Bill 2025 next Wednesday, 17th December.
If enacted, Labour’s Bill would end age-related pay discrimination for young workers, and provide access to the National Minimum Wage for interns and apprentices.
Since 1 January 2025, the national minimum wage is €13.50 per hour. However, young people continue to be discriminated against when it comes to pay rates.
Anyone working under the age of 18 is only entitled to 70% of the national minimum wage (€9.45 per hour), while 18 year olds can be paid as low as 80% of the national minimum wage (€10.80), and 19 year olds can be paid only 90% (€12.15).
Labour’s workers’ rights spokesperson Senator Nessa Cosgrove has called for cross-party support for the Bill due to be taken in Private Members’ Time next Wednesday.
Senator Cosgrove said:
“Young people and apprentices have been treated so poorly by successive Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil Governments. It is utterly antiquated, outdated and ultimately grossly unfair that so many of our young people are excluded from minimum wage rates, despite often carrying out the exact same duties as colleagues aged 20 and over. This needs to be addressed.
“Labour has long campaigned to scrap these sub-minimum wage rates for young workers. There were almost 95,000 15-19 year olds in the workplace in 2022, and many of these very much rely on this money to subsist either within the family home or living on their own.
“This enduring discrimination of younger workers reflects the Government’s patriarchal perspective that young workers’ earnings are akin to pocket money. It shows their aloofness to the reality that thousands of young people depend on work to survive.”
Apprentices
“If we are to have any hope of solving the housing crisis, we need to make working in construction an attractive and viable career path. This can be done by providing stability, decent pay and good conditions to workers, which this Government has failed abysmally to provide. Labour’s Bill aims to right this wrong.
“The crisis in apprenticeships has been long discussed but nothing has been done to address the core of the issue – which is unfair and unequal access to pay.
“There has been a 20% dropout rate for apprentices over a three-year period — a shocking figure that shows how the system is failing.
“Apprentices tell us that low pay is the main driver of this, and it is unacceptable that in 2025 an apprentice can earn as little as €7.16 an hour despite people crying out for tradespeople across the country.
“These conditions are driving interested people away from this line of work. That’s why Labour’s Bill seeks to address this by extending the National Minimum Wage legislation to include apprentices.
“If Government are serious about dramatically increasing construction employment and ensuring a steady flow of apprentices into the sector, then we must be serious about valuing and retaining our apprentices. This legislation is one clear way we can do so.”
Interns
“Similarly, we know how crucial internships have become to provide young people with a foot on the professional ladder when starting out their career. To gain access to the workplace, to understand the operations of a sector and to develop their workplace skills, internships can be fruitful experiences for our young people.
“Whilst they are learning on the job, inters contribute to the workplace and their work needs to be fairly paid to level the playing field for all starting out their professional career.
“Labour’s Bill will expand the National Minimum Wage legislation to include interns to provide protections and standards for all young people starting out in their careers.
“This is not the first time the Labour Party have sought to address this anomaly in the labour market for young workers. In 2022, the Labour Party published a bill to ban unpaid internships following in the footsteps of France, Germany and other EU member states in restricting and outlawing ‘open market’ internships. In 2023, the European Parliament voted to ban unpaid internships – a measure even supported by Fine Gael’s European Party Family – the EPP.
“Internships should be fulfilling, insightful and engaging experiences. They should help people; particularly young people, access the workforce and build the social networks they often need in order to pursue future work in their field. It’s time for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to step up for our young people, across the workforce.
“Next Wednesday, in advance of the Seanad PMB, the Labour Party will host an AV Room briefing at 1pm to outline the challenges facing our young people at work. We will be joined by representatives from ICTU, the FSU, Connect Trade Union and AMLE to call for cross-party support to end the age pay gap.”