Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In the absence of an SEO system, employers are only obliged to pay the national minimum wage. That is not something anyone would be prepared to stand over. The Bill sets out a robust range of factors to ensure standards are improved in the industries to which SEOs apply and that rates of pay are well in excess of minimum wage. We should also be mindful of the other measures I have introduced or am in the process of introducing, which will have a transformative effect for people who are on low pay.

I caution against isolating one particular piece of legislation and saying that it does not do enough to protect people on low pay. I have spoken about this to people from the TUC in the UK. They would love to have sectoral employment orders. They would really like to have systems like this where we can improve the pay, terms and conditions of people in exposed and vulnerable industries. We are doing that. Unlike some other countries across the world during the great recession, we have not hollowed out our employment rights legislation. In fact, we have enhanced it. We are introducing new frameworks and wage setting mechanisms to protect people in vulnerable industries. This is considered to be a positive thing. I am satisfied that the range of factors we will ask the Labour Court to take into account enshrined in legislation are sufficiently strong to achieve the objectives of Deputy Tóibín, which I share.