Mr. Oliver Gilvarry:

I thank the Senator. When we look at the level of low wages for workers, the counter-argument is in regard to the level of redistribution within the economy. If we compare the situation to the UK, for example, in regard to the percentage of tax that is taken for someone on the minimum wage in Ireland compared to a person on the minimum wage and aged over 23 in the UK, people have more take-home pay here. As I said in regard to the challenge, a good place to live is one that gives certainty to employers. When we look at the issues on mandatory sick pay, again, that is very much targeted at the lower paid. Whether it is in the coffee shops or on the hospitality side, people are not there for 20 years and they are in and out, changing jobs, and we see more churn there. Those are important things to have in place for people.

Moreover, from a lower pay perspective, remote working is not as much of an option for those people. It has to be that we have a lower cost of living here for those people so there is access to the healthcare system - we referenced the Sláintecare package - as well as housing. Auto-enrolment is another aspect so those workers know they have another scheme for a top-up when they are coming towards retirement. It is all of those measures, which do increase costs on businesses, but that balance makes us an attractive place for people to come to work and live, as the Senator referenced - it means it is a good place to live as well as a good place to work.

I am not sure about the higher percentage in terms of the minimum wage in Europe but, again, it is that balance. We can see that the tax take out of that minimum wage is quite low but we have to ask what are the other aspects. That is why we have called on the Government to move forward.

Another point we made in the document, which is quite important for the lower paid in the economy, is that when we look at the PUP numbers, many of those who were on the lower wage were impacted again, as were many in the hospitality sectors. Again, it is about ensuring those people are not going to be disadvantaged when mandatory redundancy calculations are coming through and aspects like that, and that measures are being taken in that regard. We need to see things happening there. It all feeds into having people say, “Yes, Ireland is a good place. I can get housing at an affordable level. The minimum wage is X but there is not a huge tax take and I am not spending a lot of it in other areas, and the healthcare and education systems are good.”

I do not know a huge amount about the minimum wage directive and what the minimum aspects are, so I could not comment on those.