Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In respect of fees and expenses paid since the establishment of the Low Pay Commission, the amounts paid to commission members who are in receipt of fees are available. Fee payments for 2016 represent payments made for the period from January to June 2016. Two commission members, Patricia King and Gerry Light, waived entitlements to fees and expenses. One member, Professor Donal O'Neill, does not receive fees in accordance with the "one person, one salary" principle. I have a list of the amounts that were received by the different members of the commission. The commission met on 11 occasions from September to June. It received a significant number of submissions from various groups and individuals with an interest in the national minimum wage. The chairman and members of the commission also met on two occasions in Monaghan and Dublin with a wide range of interests. They included individual workers and businesses, employers and employee representative groups and community and voluntary sector organisations. This enabled the commission to get as broad an understanding as possible of the issues relating to the minimum wage. As well as attendance at meetings, members are required to spend time reading, reviewing and assessing material. This includes submissions from various bodies and interest groups, relevant studies and reports in areas relating to low pay and a considerable amount of economic and statistical data.

The commission is working on two additional reports we requested. One is a report on the sub-minimum rates of the national minimum wage while the other is a report on the preponderance of women on the national minimum wage. Earlier this month, the commission was requested to report on the issue of the board and lodgings offset as part of its work programme for 2016.

The pay figure for 2015 mentioned by Deputy Quinlivan also included the pay of three staff from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. In respect of the money mentioned earlier by the Deputy , it related to the fees of the commissioners and three members of the Department.