Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I find it extraordinary that while this is one of the most important initiatives any government has taken to address low pay, Deputy Tóibín and his party cannot find it in themselves to welcome it. That is shameful.

Deputy Tóibín has chosen to make some political charges. The reality is that the Labour Party in government, and this Government in general, is committed to making sure that work pays, that it is valued in society and that it is rewarded. The Deputy will be aware that we are commissioning a study on zero hour contracts as well.

The experience in Northern Ireland is interesting, with 32,000 people existing on zero hour contracts and tens of thousands more existing on low hour contracts, yet we have heard nothing but rhetoric from the member opposite on that issue. In terms of the experience of the Administration in which his party plays a central role in Northern Ireland, it is far from a utopian picture.

We are very serious about dealing with issues pertaining to low pay. The Deputy seems to have misheard me, or at least misrepresented me. For the coming period it is the exclusive job of the low pay commission to set the rate of the national minimum wage for next year. That is a major piece of work. The national minimum wage has not been reviewed to any great degree since 2007. It is timely that it be done.

There may well be an expectation that because there have been pay increases across the private sector of 2% to 3%, broadly speaking, in the past 12 to 18 months, people on the minimum wage should experience an increase as well. The right way to do public policy making, and if we are to learn anything from the lessons of the past, is to task a statutory organisation like the low pay commission to do that work in an evidence based way that will stand up to scrutiny and is informed by the best practices of social dialogue while making convincing arguments, using evidence and bringing employers, trade unions and civil society organisations with us.

I ask people to ditch their pessimism and cynicism and give this low pay commission the opportunity to do the job it has been tasked to do. The Deputy seems to have very little faith or confidence in the National Employment Rights Agency. I beg to differ. NERA has done an excellent job of work, for example, in terms of its legislation enforcing payment of the national minimum wage.

The matter the Deputy referred to earlier, Kishoge, is an entirely different matter. I agree with him that there are issues in regard to charges of bogus self-employment and so on. It is an issue that has to be settled at European level. It is a very important matter for European nation states and something that needs to be addressed. We are serious about dealing with issues to do with low pay, the minimum wage and making sure that work pays so I ask people to park their cynicism, back the low pay commission, not make narrow political points, work with the commission and make their own submission to it before 13 April in terms of how they see it operating.