Government’s minimum wage blunder

THE Government department responsible for policing wage rates was yesterday accused of misleading non-nationals by displaying an incorrect figure for the minimum wage on its website.

Published online in 10 languages including Polish, Latvian and Russian, the Department of Enterprise website cites the Irish minimum wage as €7 instead of the correct €7.65 rate.

The inaccuracies, spotted by Cork Labour TD Kathleen Lynch, are an unfortunate embarrassment for the Government at a time when protection of migrant workers’ rights is to the fore in difficult social partnership talks.

After more than six weeks of impasse, talks on a new national agreement have missed their St Patrick’s Day deadline without even a hint of resolution.

Central to the delay in agreeing a new partnership deal is the difficulty in agreeing new protection measures for migrant workers - a Government commitment which convinced unions to enter talks.

But the Government’s efforts received an embarrassing setback last week as the latest migrant labour scandal, involving Polish workers at the ESB’s Moneypoint power station, erupted.

Outlining the incorrect information yesterday, Ms Lynch said the least the Government could do to protect vulnerable migrant workers was give the correct information.

“With all the uproar over people being paid below the minimum wage, it beggars belief that the department has committed such an oversight.

“This could mean that we are letting employers off the hook,” she said.

In addition to the basic mistake, translations on the department’s website also state that the minimum hourly rate for workers under the age of 18 in their first year of employment is €5.60 while the correct figure is €6.12.

Although those in their second year of work are entitled to €6.89 an hour, the website says they should be getting just €6.30.

A spokesperson for Enterprise Micheál Martin said the origin of the errors was unclear but promised that they would be corrected today.