National Minimum Wage (Inclusion of Young Persons, Apprentices and Interns) Bill 2025: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-17
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Sarah O'Reilly (AON), Agricultural Panel

I thank Senators Cosgrove and Harmon for bringing this Bill forward. It is important legislation because I and other Senators come into the Chamber every week to talk about the cost of living. Everything has become so expensive. We have seen increases in the cost of energy, groceries, motor tax, tolls and fuel - you name it. People from Cavan are spending approximately €30 per day on return trips to Dublin for work. As Senator Pauline O'Reilly said, young apprentices in our town leave at approximately 5.30 a.m. They spend two and a half hours in traffic sitting on the M50 and then return. It is a huge cost to them.
I genuinely believe there is value in having to work your way towards a goal and in learning on the job, but the current rate of pay for young people and apprentices is degrading. A first-year apprentice is earning only €7.67 an hour. It is hardly surprising that there has been a 20% drop-out rate among apprentices over a three-year period. How can we tell people to go into the trades when four hours of work will just cover the cost of the fuel to get to work? There are people who want to change careers and are interested in potentially becoming an electrician or a carpenter, but they cannot do so because the financial blow would be too great to bear.
Internships are also a great opportunity for young people but, unfortunately, they can be exploited. We see young people working full-time hours and getting little to no reimbursement. That is totally wrong, and it excludes young people from brilliant opportunities if they cannot afford to go weeks or months unpaid. It is just nonsense that a 20-year-old and a 19-year-old could be doing the same job but only one of them gets the minimum wage. I encourage the Government to support this Bill and if they are hesitant to support it, they should please try to imagine what it is like to live on €8 per hour.

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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