National Minimum Wage (Inclusion of Young Persons, Apprentices and Interns) Bill 2025: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-17
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Nessa Cosgrove (LAB), Labour Panel

I am very excited and delighted to be bringing forward my first Bill in the Seanad. I welcome the many trade unionists and representatives of the National Youth Council in the Public Gallery today. Their presence is very much appreciated. We had a fantastic briefing in the audiovisual room today. Representatives from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, SIPTU, Connect, Mandate, the Financial Services Union and Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn attended. Representatives came from across the board and this is indicative of the importance of the matter we are raising today. The speakers were: Mr. Owen Reidy, general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions; Ms Maeve Richardson digital organiser of the Financial Services Union; Mr. Paddy Kavanagh, general secretary of Connect Trade Union and Mr. Ben Friel, President of the National Union of Students NI and Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn. My thanks to all the Senators and TDs who were able to attend and, if they were not, who sent their representatives. I also thank those who assisted and advised me on this Bill throughout this drafting process. I give a special shout out to Mr. John Davey, my parliamentary assistant.
Advice and input has come from the entire trade union movement, particularly the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, with thanks in particular to former Senator Paul Gavan for his consistent advice and guidance on this. I am also especially grateful to my immediate predecessors as Labour Party spokespersons on workers' rights, former Senator and now Deputy Marie Sherlock and Deputy Ged Nash, who did so much to bring these issues to the fore. Marie had previously brought legislation before the Seanad seeking the payment of the minimum wage to apprentices in 2023 and, in turn, in 2022.
The fact that previous attempts have been made by other parliamentarians demonstrates that the specifics of this Bill have political precedence and that they are steeped in the ideals of equality and fairness, which should inform all of our efforts to remake Irish society. The understanding that previous attempts to bring about an extension to the minimum wage legislation for all workers was not achieved, unfortunately, during the term of the previous Oireachtas should give fresh impetus to the need to pass this Bill today, which combines the need to fairly and adequately pay apprentices, interns and young people. I am very grateful to my Cross-Party Group colleagues, Senators Laura Harmon, Malcolm Noonan and Patricia Stephenson for allowing us to use our Private Member's time for this very important Bill.
The introduction of a national minimum wage in Ireland in 2000, which is 25 years ago now, was a turning point in workers' rights in this jurisdiction. Overnight, on 1 April 2000, we saw 22% of workers receive an immediate and significant boost to their income. Today the minimum wage is set at €13.50 per hour, but four months into the new millennium it was set at just €5.58 per hour or £4.40 in the old money. While the then minimum wage commission had recommended a rate of 70% of the average male wage at the time, the Government at the time opted for a rate of just 53% of the average male wage. Despite this shortfall, the impact it had was immediate, not in the job losses predicted by those opposed to the introduction, but in the raising of wage levels for all low-paid workers. Some 163,000 workers, the majority of whom women and many of whom were under 25, received a pay rise on April Fool's Day 2000. A total of 80,000 of them received an increase of at least £1, that is, their wages rose by a quarter overnight.
It seems hard to remember a different Ireland, an Ireland where employers could choose to pay adult workers less than £3 per hour. While most of the low-paid jobs were then, as now, in retail and personal services, other low-paid sectors at the time were highly dangerous and in sectors such as agriculture, forestry and fishing. The introduction of the minimum wage was a transformative experience for the Irish economy because it lifted not only individuals but whole cohorts of workers out of poverty wages. Unfortunately, the job was never finished. Apprentices and interns were excluded from the benefits of a mandatory minimum wage. Employers were given permission to employ young people at rates consistently and considerably below the national minimum wage. At the moment, a young person under 18 is entitled to a wage of €9.45 per hour, which is 70% of the minimum wage. Eighteen-year-olds are entitled to €10.80 per hour, which is 80% of the minimum wage and a 19-year-old is entitled to 90% of the full rate, which is €12.15 per hour.
As we heard so clearly today, first year craft apprentices often fare worse, with rates of €7.67 per hour, which is just 30% of the adult minimum wage. This rises to €11.50 for second year apprentices before reaching the minimum wage rate in third year. All of us have many experiences and know fine well that people will not give up a minimum wage job to do an apprenticeship that will only pay half of that wage, and interns fare even worse. However, lot of work has been done in tightening up on the prevalence of unpaid internships over the last number of years. The law is clear. Anybody doing work of a similar level of responsibility as an employee is an employee and is entitled to the minimum wage. As a result of this, the number of unpaid internships on offer has plummeted, but the fact is that they are still out there and a small number of them are still being advertised openly.
I believe the Bill before us today embodies the core values of equality and fairness in the workplace. It was these values which brought me into trade union activism, into politics and into the Labour Party at the very start many years ago, when I became an active trade unionist. Equality and fairness demand that we extend the protections of the national minimum wage to these three groups of workers.
Of course some people do not agree with this logic or with the introduction of this Bill. I have heard arguments against this and no doubt we will hear some of these arguments tonight, from those opposed to the extension of the minimum wage. The first argument is that it will lead to a reduction in employment opportunities for young people but the same claims were made in the run-up to 2000. We heard widespread claims from some employers that a steep rise in unemployment would follow, especially among the lowest paid, less skilled workers. The same claims are being made by some employers today that the unintended consequences of this policy is that employers choose not to give an opportunity to those who need the experience. However, academic studies and our own experience since 2000 have shown that these claims were unfounded. The introduction of a minimum wage had, in fact, no significant impact upon employment rates among the public, and there is no reason to think it will have a negative impact upon young workers now.
The second argument often given is that young people do not need the money because they are supported by their parents. While this argument might ring true for some 17-year-olds or 18-year-olds, we all know 18-year-old students who are working hard, studying and trying to support themselves, whether living away from home or at home. Anyway, many parents cannot afford to keep supporting their young workers. Not only does the expense of supporting someone who should be able to support themselves put a strain upon finances of ordinary families, it also has a more insidious effect. It means that many opportunities, such as unpaid internships, are only available to those who have access to the bank of mum and dad. This leads to a continuation, even a magnification, of middle-class domination of certain sectors. It is bad for diversity and it is bad for the economy.
What about young parents for whom full-time work or part-time work is a necessity? In 2022, 857 babies were born to teenage parents. That is 1.5% of all births.
Do those 857 babies deserve to be born into systematically engineered childhood poverty? Childhood poverty has a lifelong and multigenerational impact, especially in communities already experiencing poverty. Why would we not challenge childhood poverty where we can?
Many young people do not have access to college, apprenticeships or parental funds. Many go into full-time work rather than going on to third level education. That is not because of a lack of ambition or ability but because this is what they want to do. Young adults generally want to be self-supporting. I know this from working as a youth worker for many years.
The third argument often given is that only a small number of apprentices and interns are affected by these low rates of pay and it will not impact most apprentices. The whole point of minimum wage legislation is that it sets a minimum. It is not intended to have an impact on those who are already in receipt of the minimum or who exceed it. This is legislation designed to raise the floor of wages and not the roof. If it is only going to help a small number then surely that is the point of any progressive legislation. It is designed to help those who need help the most.
Employers tell me that it is increasingly difficult to attract apprentices into the trades and approximately 20% of apprentices drop out of their apprenticeships. That is because of low pay. We were told today by Paddy Kavanagh of the Connect Trade Union that 47% of apprentices in the UK dropped out in the first year because of low pay. In the unlikely event that none of us have noticed, we have an acute shortage of housing. We have serious deficiencies in infrastructure and a chronic shortage of skilled craftsmen and craftswomen. We need to address these shortages and deficiencies in any way we can.
I know that the Oireachtas committee on higher education is busy preparing a report at the moment on the very issue of apprentice pay and I fully expect it to recommend that apprentices are paid at least the minium wage. The introduction of the national minimum wage had a positive impact in reducing the levels of poverty in the workplace. This Bill will complete the work that started in 2000. It extends the right to the national minimum wage to all of those people who are working in our economy. Increasing pay and adducing a benefit to the least well-off, while impacting them positively, does not negatively impact those who already receive more. Nobody loses with this Bill; everybody wins. I am hopeful that my colleagues in the Seanad and the Dáil from all parties will agree that change is necessary and that the National Minimum Wage (Inclusion of Young Persons, Apprentices and Interns) Bill 2025 will become law in 2026.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-12-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:28+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-17