O’Dea: FF made mistake in cutting minimum wage

FIANNA Fáil TD Willie O’Dea has said his own party made a “serious mistake” in cutting the minimum wage — but neglected to mention he voted for the cut.

Mr O’Dea helped the Fianna Fáil-Green coalition to cuts the minimum wage by €1 to €7.65 an hour last December when he voted in favour of the measure.

The reduction hit the country’s poorest-paid workers, but Fianna Fáil staunchly defended the cut at the time, saying it was necessary to improve Ireland’s competitiveness.

Speaking last night in the Dáil, however, Mr O’Dea said the cut had been a “serious mistake” — while neglecting to mention he had actually voted for it.

“I can tell you from my own constituency clinics what happened at the time the (previous) Government introduced the new minimum wage,” he said.

“I had people in to me... who were telling me that their employers were putting pressure on them.”

Mr O’Dea was speaking during a Dáil debate on government proposals to reform wage-setting mechanisms in the private sector.

The Fine Gael-Labour Coalition reversed the cut when it took office, restoring it to €8.65.

However, under the terms of the EU-IMF bailout, the coalition is obliged to overhaul the wage-setting mechanisms, which set hourly rates at a premium above the minimum wage in sectors such as tourism, catering and retail.

Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton will address a meeting of Labour TDs tomorrow amid concern the reforms could result in pay reductions for low-paid workers.