A fundamental flaw in the Minimum Wage Bill was the blanket exception from its provisions of family employees, said Mr Feargal Quinn (Ind). "It is entrenched in the outmoded idea that people can be other people's property.
"We have a Minimum Wage Bill that says employers musn't exploit their employees - unless the employees are family. If that isn't a licence for exploitation, I don't know what is. We all know that funny things can go on in families, and that in point of fact some people are indeed exploited in family businesses.
"I have always been a champion of family businesses, but I have never believed that family members should be exploited . . . It's wrong here, and it's wrong in other employment legislation as well."
He added: "Unless we still believe that spouses are chattels, unless we still believe that children are the property of parents, we should not allow these provisions to stand. If we do, my guess is that it won't be too long before some smart 14-year-old takes our homework to the High Court to have it corrected."
Ms Margaret Cox (FF) said she would hate to see the Bill's provisions being a reason to see people leave school earlier. "We need to keep them in school and we need to focus on the Leaving Cert and on them going on to additional qualifications.
"It is only through education and through the gaining of additional skills that we will see a true assault on marginalisation and poverty actually working."