Reports in the media indicate - the Taoiseach can confirm this - that following the Cabinet meeting this morning, the Government intends to roll back labour market measures, including the further roll-out of a minimum wage to a median wage and the increase in sick leave, which is to be staggered until 2026, to bring the entitlement of sick leave for every worker up to ten days. I get it that we are in a period where the Government wants to improve its vote in the local and European elections. I also get it that because a big part of the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael base is small- and medium-sized enterprises, those parties will want to do something for SMEs in the lead-up to an election. However, what is it doing to the 1.3 million workers who are employed in SMEs when it is talking about cutting back on commitments made on the minimum wage and sick pay? I remember when, during the austerity years, a Fine Gael Minister for Finance said the Government was picking the low-hanging fruit, and he meant it. It strikes me that if the Government is to bring in this measure, that is exactly what it will attempt to do - pick the low-hanging fruit to impress its base.

It is important to say that there are very serious problems for some of the small enterprises out there which are struggling, but not all of them are struggling. Some 1.3 million people are employed by SMEs, but not all of them are small or medium. A company has to have 250 employees or fewer to be described as an SME, so there is a wide spectrum within that. If the Government is going to target progressive labour measures that have been promised to some of the lowest paid and worst treated workers in the country, why is it not targeting those measures at those who need them, rather than giving a blank cheque to the entire SME sector, many of whose members' profits are going up? That is true of both hospitality and retail. Profits have gone up and the cost of living has not come down sufficiently. The Government is telling workers that although it made a commitment to bring up their standards of living, it is now pulling back on it. Can the Taoiseach justify that sort of policy in this day and age in one of the richest countries in Europe? The Government will now pick the low-hanging fruit and attack the people who are worst off in this country. Yes, give supports to the small businesses in local towns and communities that are struggling, but must that support include penalising the workers who are worst off? They have been given a promise by this Government that they will do better in terms of sick leave and a median wage over the next two years. Can the Taoiseach please answer those questions and confirm if this is the Cabinet’s plan?

I always find it slightly amusing that when the Government says something, it must be about the local and European elections, but when the Opposition does something, it has nothing at all to do with them. I am sure Deputy Bríd Smith is hoping to get a few votes herself in the election, and I wish her well.

The Government had an important discussion today on a series of proposals for 15 actions around small and medium enterprises. Deputy Smith is correct that they are really feeling the pinch. She knows that from her constituency, as I know it from mine. Small businesses, café owners, restaurateurs, hairdressers, butchers and the businesses we all know on the main streets of towns and villages have seen a lot coming at them in a short space of time. They say to me that it may look very busy in their business, that it is hard to get a table or a seat but, when they do the books at the end of the week or month, the margin is tight. They have asked the Government to listen, and we have committed to doing that. We have listened and today we have acted. Tomorrow, the package will be announced.

Let me tell the Deputy what it will and will not do. It will look at initiatives we have had in place, such as the increased cost of business grants which have worked well for many businesses, and ask whether we can give another blast of that to some small and medium businesses and give more assistance through a direct cash injection. That is one of the things it will look at. Can we look at making sure that when the minimum wage is increased, as it was, there is a lower rate of employers’ PRSI so that employers do not feel like they are being hit twice? Can we look at things like the commitment in the programme for Government to apply an SME test? It is easy for us in here to come up with a great idea, but often we do not have to pay for it. It is the small and medium businesses that do and we need to factor that in. We do not want anyone to lose a job here because that is the most important protection you can give any worker.

I am extremely proud of this Government's record when it comes to workers and supporting hard-working people. We only have to look at the minimum wage, which is now €12.70, having been increased by €1.40 per hour just five months ago.

That is a very large single increase, an increase of 12% when the inflation rate last year was around 5.3%.

We are the Government that introduced a sick pay scheme. No one is talking about rolling back on anything. We are talking about following the evidence and having the ESRI do research about what happens next. What has the impact been? How are SMEs coping with it? How is it working in practice? That sounds sensible. We are a government that introduced parental leave. We are a government that made progress on remote working. We are a government that has reduced the cost of childcare at least twice. We are a government that reduces tax for low- and middle-income workers. We are a government that established the Low Pay Commission.

The Deputy knows well the process the Low Pay Commission goes through. It has worker representatives and business representatives. It has an independent chair. It does its work over the summer and then it generally reports to Government. Therefore, I agree with the Deputy, if this is the point she is making, that we should not pit the needs of one against the needs of others. If the Deputy is not hearing this on the hustings, she is on very different hustings from me. We should be listening to people who are saying, "You come up with your bright ideas in here but you're not considering the impact it's having on my café, my butcher's shop, my small clothes shop." That is the balance we are trying to get right. I believe with the range of packages we have in place, the details of which will be announced tomorrow, we have got that balance correct.

I probably am not on the same types of hustings as the Taoiseach.

That is true; I have not met her on them yet anyway.

Some 8% of workers in this country are on the minimum wage and they are the people I meet. The postponement of an increase for them is cruel and unnecessary. Instead of tackling the businesses by getting them to pay different rates, the Government is attacking workers' rights again. Almost a year ago we brought a Bill before the House to get rid of the discrimination against young workers in the minimum wage legislation. The Government said, "Park it for a year and we'll come back to you." I am dying to hear what the Government has to say in the first week in June about that Bill which it parked for a year. Has the Government even looked at it? It is very clear to me that this is about picking the low-hanging fruit. The Taoiseach may want to support the businesses that he meets on the hustings - not all businesses are covered by this, by the way. Research by SIPTU and Maynooth University have proved that many of the businesses to which the Government is giving extra support are very profitable. The point is that it is not targeted at those who need it the most. In business terms, it is targeted at those who need the increase most in their wages.

That is either an unintentional or deliberate misunderstanding of the Government's increased cost of business scheme, which is targeted. I am sure Opposition Deputies have often got queries into their constituency offices as to why someone over a certain threshold does not qualify. There are very clear thresholds showing that this is being targeted, as Deputy Smith knows. If any Member of Dáil Éireann does not believe we should pay another additional sum of the increased cost of business grants to retail or hospitality, they should let me know. They should let their constituents know and let the café owners know. I would have thought there is a consensus that the increased cost of business grant is the very least we should be doing to try to help businesses at this hard time. In advance of the budget, we are trying to see how we can be innovative within the resources we have available.

I do not buy into this idea of pitting one group of people against the others.

That is what you are doing.

That is what you wish we would do. That is what you would thrive on us doing. That is what you would like to tell people we do.

This is spin. You are-----

The Taoiseach without interruption.

Every time I speak it is something. Every time you speak it is authoritative and every time I speak you try to degrade it.

That is because I am an authoritative-type person.

Deputy, please.

That is because you know everything and fair play to you. I will tell you this. We cut taxes. We cut childcare costs. We increased the minimum wage. We introduced statutory sick pay. We support remote working. We are building more homes. We have the backs of workers in this country. We do not need any lectures from you on it.

Hear, hear.