Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

One of the very first acts of this Government on coming into office was to restore the cut in the minimum wage of €1 per hour imposed by its predecessor. We did that during the worst part of recession. We also set up the Low Pay Commission to examine the issue of low pay. The Low Pay Commission is an independent body that will report on this issue. The Government has accepted its first report such that by 1 January next we will have increased the minimum wage by 20% even in the thick of recession.

I do not know if Deputy McDonald is confused or is misrepresenting the fact but senior public servants in receipt of incomes in excess of €65,000 per annum were impacted by a third pay cut when all others were impacted by only two cuts. The restoration about which the Deputy speaks will not be full restoration for the most senior public servants, rather it is the restoration of the third pay cut. It will be some time before there is restoration of the other two pay cuts. Following implementation of the provisions of this Bill, the lowest paid will have had all pay cuts restored. Subsection 6A(7) provides that where the application of subsections (3), (4) and (5) results in pay restoration of in excess of what was lost that increase will be retained. This means that the lowest paid will, in some instances, be better off than they were prior to any cut. This is provided for in the section.