Government discriminates against young workers in today’s Budget
Tuesday 7 October 2025This Government’s discrimination against young workers was reinforced in today’s Budget.
While gifting a VAT rate cut bonanza to the hospitality sector and rightly increasing the Minimum Wage, Ministers Donohoe and Chambers refused to increase the sub-minimum wage rates for younger workers.
This decision flies in the face of the fact that young workers are equally as affected by the rising cost of living as everyone else in Irish society.
Mandate Trade Union is campaigning to end discrimination against young workers by abolishing the Sub-Minimum Wage, which is below the National Minimum Wage.
The Sub-Minimum Wage directly discriminates against young workers as it provides for young workers to be legally paid significantly lower rates of pay than that the National Minimum Wage of solely based upon a Young Workers age.
