Dr. Laura Bambrick:

There will be an exemption in the legislation as it is. With the minimum wage legislation, if an employer can prove that it would be detrimental to their business to pay the wage floor, they can go to the Labour Court with that evidence. To date, no employer has ever gone to the Labour Court. The main thing is that this is not a national policy. We are policy takers in this regard. The EU rules are telling us that this is the direction of travel, and that we must ensure our minimum wages are adequate. As mentioned in our opening statement, Ireland's minimum wage is currently only at 80%. It is 20% under the poverty line. Ireland is not alone in that, with 19 of the 21 EU countries having minimum wages set below the poverty line.

That is why the EU had to step in and give firm guidelines on how to set our minimum wage at an adequate level. In doing so, the EU did an extensive impact assessment of the wage uplift, not just for workers but also for employers who will have to pay. It found there will be very minimal job losses and, where there is job loss, the effect will be as follows. If the Senator were to lose his job paying €10.50 per hour, because the new minimum or living wage is at €12 or €13.10, as recommended by the Low Pay Commission last week, any new job he secures will be paid at that rate. The Senator might not have the same job but the new job will be significantly better paying. The European Commission is confident there will be very little employment impact from the move to a living wage or adequate minimum wage.