Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

That is exactly the situation. The statutory minimum wage was introduced only a few years ago. It is the floor beneath which nobody should be allowed to fall in a decent society. Most of us here would never recommend that an employer pay the minimum wage.

The living wage is a very interesting concept which I have been exploring in detail recently. I had announced publicly several weeks ago that I would host a living wage forum where we will engage not just with trade unions and civil society organisations but crucially with employers to scope out the notion of a living wage in Ireland. Some present here today have established various fora on the living wage but I do not believe they are serious about it because they have never bothered to engage with a single employer on it. If we do not engage with employers and convince them of the virtues of a living wage we are in a different spot.

Nobody should conflate the notions of the national minimum wage and the living wage. They are two entirely different matters. The national minimum wage is the floor beneath which nobody should be allowed to fall but the living wage is a very attractive and interesting concept. It is a civil society movement. That is where it drew its strength from in the UK. It was a grassroots campaign initiated by a collection of churches in London which made the case to individual companies for a living wage. It is useful to describe how the national minimum wage and the living wage concepts differ, rather than conflate them, which is not useful.