NO. Not too late.
But it was TWO nights ago.
Never mind that. This is worth it.
Patricia Callan (above), director of the Small Firms Association (which looks after companies that employ fewer than 50 people) came on to repeat her association’s call for the removal of the minimum wage/Sunday pay/compassion for other human beings, etc. She used a “Muslim chef” to illustrate one of her points.
Mistake.
Patricia Callan: “I had a company just on today, an Indian restaurant are having to let a Muslim chef go because of the Sunday premium. Now, he’s a Muslim: he doesn’t care about Sunday.”
Vincent Browne: “Did you believe the restaurateur who told you that?”
Callan: “Absolutely.”
Browne: “And how much would… how much is the Sunday premium costing this restaurateur?”
Callan: “If you look at the figures, 37% of restaurants don’t even open on Sunday any more because of the Sunday premium.”
Browne: “No no, wait a minute. Just a minute. This restaurateur who runs an Indian restaurant came to you today and told you we’ve got to stop working on Sundays because of this premium for Sundays. Now, how much was that payment of that premium costing that person per week?”
Callan: “Well in the context of pubs…”
Browne: “No no, just your friend the restaurateur who came to you today… How much did the Sunday premium cost for the payment of that chef?”
Callan: “The premium payment basically means that you have to add cost to your pricing, which means nobody’s willing to pay for it.”
Browne: “Patricia, Patricia. Did you ask this restaurateur who came to you today and told you this sob story –”
Callan: “Vincent, this is –”
Browne: “Just a minute now. Did you ask the question, how much?”
Callan: “In a pub I have exact figures: €12.41 compared to €8.65.”
Browne: “You won’t address my question because I think you might have ‘egged the pudding’, is that the cliche?”
Callan: “I did not!”
Browne: “Well tell us.”
Callan: “Well, in the JLC it’s time-and-a-half.”
Browne: “No no. Did you ask the restaurateur that question?”
Callan: “OK, can I explain to you –?
Browne: “No no. Did you ask?”
Callan: “We were obviously discussing within the context of the JLC.”
Browne: “Did you ask the restaurateur that question? You obviously didn’t.”
Callan: “No I didn’t.”
Browne: “Do you find it incredibly implausible that, because of the extra premium that he would have to pay on a Sunday to this Muslim chef, he had to stop his restaurant?”
Callan: “37% of restaurants don’t open on a Sunday because of labour rates. If 37% of restaurants opened in the morning, you’d have 4,000 additional jobs in the morning…”
Browne: “Is that believable? Because it’s not believable. Your story about the Muslim chef is not believable.”
Watch full episode here