The Government has failed to either prosecute or convict a single "rogue employer" for neglecting to pay the minimum wage in 2005 or 2006, while just one person was charged in 2004, the Labour Party said yesterday.
Commenting on figures provided to him by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment in a recent Dáil reply, Ruairí Quinn TD accused Micheál Martin of "sleeping on the job of protecting Irish workers".
"With the workforce now exceeding two million, just one person has been charged with not paying their staff the minimum wage in 2004, and not a single prosecution has taken place in 2005 or 2006," he said.
A spokeswoman for Mr Martin said that while the figures quoted by Mr Quinn were correct, at least €1.8 million in backdated wages had been paid out by employers during the period in question.
Over €1 million had been paid out to date this year, the spokeswoman added.
This followed inspections which revealed that the employers in question had not paid their workers the minimum wage, which is currently €7.65 an hour.