No working person should be paid less than minimum wage. Yet our apprentices, those learning vital crafts and trades that help build homes and keep the roofs over our heads, are paid less than minimum wage.
It’s no wonder there’s a crisis in the construction sector. Under Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, our young people are fleeing from apprenticeships, opting to enter properly paid employment. There was a drop of more than 300 apprenticeship registrations last year compared to 2021 — down from 8,607 to 8,286. It must be meaningfully addressed.
That’s why today in the Dail Labour will demand a range of emergency housing measures and call on government to end the exclusion of apprentices from minimum wage legislation to encourage more workers into trades.
