Council chairman suggests unequal pay for immigrants

A COUNTY council chairman has been strongly criticised for suggesting that unskilled migrant workers should not necessarily be paid the same wage as their Irish counterparts and their wage should reflect the lower cost of living in their home countries.

In a debate on a motion on the abuse of workers by some employment agencies, Louth County Council chairman Cllr Jimmy Mulroy (FF) said that the cost of living is higher in Ireland and while Irish people “need €12.50 an hour, people from Lithuania are doing very well on €8.50 an hour”.

Cllr Kevin Meenan (SF) said migrant workers “do not fly home at night. If they live and work here they should get the same money [as Irish workers]”.