Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----in the short term. He also said it is to look at general issues associated with low pay. Again, a Minister with a political direction should be giving direction to these individuals with regard to exactly what they should be examining.

The problem I have is that it appears we are inventing a typewriter here, while Britain is already looking at inventing an iPad. What I mean is that in Britain they have already come to the decision. People such as Alan Buckle and Sir George Bain, who have major experience with the functioning of the commission in Britain, have written extensively and looked at the inadequacies of it. They have seen that low pay is still entrenched in the British economy. Has the Minister read Alan Buckle's independent report, Low Pay: The Nation's Challenge, or Sir George Bain on the national minimum wage issue? I will outline what I mean by the broader context of low pay. There are sectors of society that are hammered with low pay. These include younger workers, women and migrants. Is it not necessary to provide in the legislation and in the specific remit of the commission that it examine the experiences of these people and identify policies that will resolve those experiences?

Also, it was stated at the International Labour Organization, ILO, minimum wage fixing convention that there is a suite of other issues to do with low pay. A proper public service, for example, helps people who are in poverty, those suffering from inequality and those on low pay and the delivery of proper public services can lift those individuals out of that. If it is to do what it says on the tin, so to speak, would it not be logical to also task the commission to examine how these tools can be used to resolve the problem of low pay for people? The Council of Europe has indicated that there are problems with sub-minimum wage rates, etc. Should that not be examined also?

The Minister and I have had many debates on the fact that there is a major lack of enforcement powers with regard to the minimum wage in this State. We have had the Kishoge affair and a number of other cases where workers were earning less than the minimum wage. There are enforcement processes in the State but those are so slow they are no longer effective for workers. If political direction were at the heart of this issue, the Labour Party would be tasking the low pay commission to ensure that enforcement happens.

Is it not necessary to build a low pay commission on the basis of the experience of people in other countries such as Britain, which is now looking at reforming what is a 15 year old, outdated institution?