Sir, – A food contract for the Irish Prison Service was awarded to a Northern Ireland company (Business This Week, August 12th). This is what happens when we pay ourselves too much. It’s time for the Government to reverse the minimum wage. Our minimum wage is 25 per cent higher than that in the UK (where it is £6.08 per hour, from October 1st).
If Irish suppliers can’t win contracts with our own Government, what hope have they of being competitive in the real market?
We need to reset the base cost of operating a business in this country or we will just continue to lose exports and jobs and all that’ll be left are the highly paid public servants busy in the Department of Social Protection. – Yours, etc,