MINIMUM WAGE:LABOUR LEADER Eamon Gilmore has challenged Sinn Féin to use its position on the Northern Ireland Executive to secure an increase in the minimum wage in the North.
Sharp exchanges occurred between Mr Gilmore and Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh during a discussion on the Lisbon Treaty at a meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs yesterday.
Mr Ó Snodaigh accused the Labour leader of a “massive U-turn” on his statement after the first Lisbon referendum – that the treaty was now dead and that the result had to be respected.
“In December 2008, in the course of a debate on the future of the Lisbon Treaty, Deputy Gilmore told the Dáil of the genuine concern among working people that the way had been opened for an undermining of levels of pay and working conditions and that these issues must be addressed satisfactorily before another referendum could be held.”
He asked if Mr Gilmore agreed that the solemn declaration secured by the Government would not have the status of the protocols on taxation and neutrality and would not give the EU new powers to redress the trend of commission policy and European Court of Justice decisions, which, according to the Sinn Féin TD, were undermining workers’ wages and conditions throughout the EU.
Responding, the Labour leader said: “I don’t think it helps to engage in word games.”
He noted the minimum wage in the Republic was €8.65 whereas in Northern Ireland it was €6.32 and this was putting pressure on the southern side of the Border.
If Sinn Féin wanted to “do something constructive” in this respect, Mr Gilmore said, then the party should seek to increase the level pertaining in the North, “where you are in government”.
In his opening address to the Oireachtas committee, Mr Gilmore said: “There is not a single provision in the Lisbon Treaty which weakens or lessens the rights of workers: on the contrary, it copperfastens a range of workplace rights.”
He reiterated the commitment that, “if elected to the next government, the Labour Party will legislate to give domestic effect to the principles enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights, including collective bargaining.”
Fianna Fáil TD Timmy Dooley said that, in his canvassing for Lisbon, he had been “bowled over” by the number of people who still believed, wrongly, that the minimum wage would be reduced if the treaty was ratified.
Fine Gael Senator Paschal Donohoe expressed concern about “insecurity” being created that immigrants were taking Irish jobs and that some of the No literature in the referendum was “beginning to home in” on the issue.
Labour Senator Phil Prendergast said, based on her experience of canvassing for the treaty in south Tipperary, it was time for the Yes side to take on the arguments put forward by organisations such as Cóir, “head-on”.
