Ireland’s minimum wage to be cut by 12 per cent

Ireland’s national minimum wage is to be reduced by €1 per hour – or 12 per cent - to €7.65 in a bid to ‘remove barriers to employment creation’, according to the government’s four year National Recovery Plan released this week.

Together with the budget due in two weeks’ time, the four year plan critically underpins ongoing negotiations between the Irish government, the IMF and the European Central Bank on the rate and conditions attached to the estimated €85 billion loan to recapitalise Irish banks and bolster the euro.