TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen has signalled that the examination of the national minimum wage is a matter for the Labour Court, and not for the Government as was suggested by Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan.
Mr Cowen yesterday gave his first public reaction to Mr Lenihan's comments at the MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal, that the Government may need to address the question of the minimum wage if it were shown to be an obstacle to job creation in a particular sector.
Mr Cowen agreed with Mr Lenihan that the national minimum wage would require examination if it acted as a barrier to job retention. He departed from Mr Lenihan when he said responsibility for the issue lay with the Labour Court.
"People should really look at what Ministers in fact had to say about it. What they were saying was that if there were a barrier to continued job retention in particular sectors, then of course there are agreed procedures where all these matters are looked at," he said. "Of course, employers and employees can make those cases to the Labour Court. Those procedures obviously provide the basis for how we deal with those issues," added Mr Cowen.
He was also asked about the call for a general election by Siptu president Jack O'Connor. The trade unionist claimed Mr Lenihan needed to be reined in after his comments on the minimum wage.
The Taoiseach responded: "I don't want to comment on the polemics of what other people in the social partnership have to say, other than to say that the Government is absolutely united and determined to discharge its duties to the people." He said that those duties included maintaining jobs, becoming more competitive, bringing the public finances into order and restructuring the banks.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said yesterday there was no proposal "as of now" to cut the minimum wage, but its future should be open for discussion. Mr Martin said Ireland has the second highest minimum wage in Europe, at €8.65 per hour, and that the examination of a variety of issues is legitimate in the current economic climate.
"Of course there is no proposal as of now on the table to cut the minimum wage," he told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
"I think what I would be concerned about is the fact that people don't even seem to be prepared to discuss anything . . . In the present climate, discussions about a variety of issues are legitimate."
He described comments from Siptu president Jack O'Connor, who said Taoiseach Brian Cowen was unable to rein in Department of Finance hawks pursuing slash and burn economic policies, as polemic.
Speaking at a briefing on the National Treasury Management Agency yesterday, Mr Lenihan said he was "in charge" of his department. "I get advice from my officials, sometimes I agree with it and sometimes I disagree with it - that's my job as a Minister.
"If the minimum wage was causing unemployment in any particular sector, the Government will have to examine that and that's only common sense," he added. "I find it hard to believe that anyone could disagree with that proposition."