The minimum wage - We will sink or swim together

THE discussion, if you could call it that, over recent days on the prospect, or even the possibility, of cutting the minimum wage gives just a flavour of the great arguments and potential for deep bitterness that lie ahead. Hard choices, as we face ever fewer options, will make for difficult times and fraught, fiery relationships.

For trade unions and so many, many others the minimum wage is an untouchable, a hard-won right that cannot be jettisoned, even if bankruptcy looms. Even if it is 30% higher than the level paid in Britain.

SIPTU president Jack O’Connor went so far as to call for a general election to protect it and other agreements. Talk of reducing the minimum wage was just the latest in a line of “reprehensible remedies” he declared. Mr O’Connor’s position would get considerable support as the vast majority of people working in this country would find it all but impossible to survive on less than €20,000 a year, much less raise a family and house them on such a tight, miserable budget.