Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Enforcement is hugely important. The WRC rearrangement will probably take some time to bed down but it will be beneficial in the long term. Up to now, someone applying for retribution because employment law was not being fairly applied could wait four or five years to have an unfair dismissals case heard. Hopefully, this will end and workers' cases will be heard within a reasonable period.

The number of Health and Safety Authority, HSA, inspections has increased quite significantly. A former Deputy, Joe Higgins, once famously said that there were more dog licence inspectors in the country than there were workplace inspectors. Thankfully, this has changed and there has been quite a rise in the number of workplace inspections by the HSA. Is the Minister satisfied with that level of inspection? Is she satisfied that we have enough inspectors? Given that at least one fatal accident has taken place in the construction industry recently, does she think we might need to increase the number of inspections, particularly in the area of construction?

I am concerned - as, I am sure, are the company's former workers - about the timeframe for legislation and the outcome of the investigation into what happened at Clerys. It is not lost on workers that heaven and earth are moved very quickly when an issue such as the Apple tax case arises but it seems to drag on when it comes to the question of retribution, equality and justice for workers.

I want to talk about the Low Pay Commission. When it was announced that an extra 10 cent per hour would be added to the national minimum wage, I felt personally responsible and embarrassed because it dawned on me that I am a member of this committee. In the name of God, what is the commission thinking when it decides to give 10 cent per hour to workers when even the programme for a partnership Government contains a commitment to bring the minimum wage up to €10.50 per hour within its lifetime? If the process continues at the pace, it will be 2028 before we get to €10.50 per hour. For the Low Pay Commission to say to so many workers throughout the country that they should get an extra 10 cent is an appalling outcome. It might as well have given them nothing. The increase is insulting. When we discussed programme A, the Minister said she is very determined to promote foreign direct investment, that these are all very good jobs which pay very well, that getting people back to work is her priority, that she is particularly concerned about women and young people and that she thinks having a job must be a pleasure and a boost to someone's morale. Adding 10 cent per hour to the minimum wage, which is already at the very low level of €9.15, is a kick in the teeth to people in the context of their morale. When the Minister looks at this, she must take into consideration the fact that everything from rent to mortgages to insurance costs to the price of medication has increased quite considerable in this country and not at the rate of the cost of living index. The cost of insurance has increased by 40% or 50%. The latest report from daft.ieshows that rents have increased by 12% in places such as Dublin and Cork. How does the Minister explain low-paid workers being offered an extra 10 cent per hour? None of us in this House is working for that kind of money nor would we.

Edel McGinley produced statistics showing that most low-paid people are in the hospitality, food and retail sectors where profits in the past couple of years have spiked above what they were before the crash. How we do explain offering workers in these industries, most of whom are women and young people, an insulting ten cent per hour?