David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Dr. Collins’s points about the sustainability of the State subsidising low pay and about in-work poverty came up in our last discussion. I would also like to hear Mr. O’Brien’s and Ms McElwee’s opinions on this matter. Most employers attempt to pay decent wages, but there are some big multiples in the retail sector which do not. They are profitable companies that do not pay decent wages. The State, through family income supplement and other measures, is subsidising these companies, which hurts everybody. What is IBEC’s position on that issue?

We need to increase tax revenue because we have the third lowest tax take in Europe. As long as that is the case, there will be underlying inequality in society because we do not have the revenue to invest in the public services we need. How do we raise that tax revenue? We have to be specific in how we do it. We cannot just say it will come from economic growth. This is a global issue which came up for the first time at Davos at the World Economic Forum which discussed the growing gap between restrained wages and the income of the majority, on the one hand, and the massively expanding wealth at the top, on the other. It is a big global problem. What proposals would the delegates put forward to deal with these inequalities?

How do we get to the root of the problems affecting many workers? In a sense, if we are to look at how we deal with them, we must put ourselves in the shoes of those workers on low pay and look at what supports they need. There is a weakness in the response in terms of the specifics of how we would do some of this work.