Mr. Ultan Courtney:

I do not recollect from memory, unless somebody else does, any specific discussion about a support. When we discussed this matter before, a range of schemes, which we looked at, were put in place by the Government. It would have been suggested to us that the schemes were appropriate and perhaps nothing more was needed to be done. We made the argument that we would look at it again and make recommendations. I get nervous when I tread into the area of policy on this matter. Maybe it is something that the commission has to evolve into when we are talking about a living wage as distinct from a minimum wage because the minimum wage is meant to be a floor and we are also making a recommendation on the rate as such. Now, as we move towards a living wage, which is more of a safety net, and as we take into consideration other factors, our remit has changed. We want to be conscious that we are independent and we are making a case to the Government that it can stand over, and that the Government does not believe we are dictating policy decisions to it.

It is hugely important to us that the Government be allowed to do its job. We make recommendations and the Government makes decisions. We are on a journey. The minimum wage is on a journey to the national living wage and we are in transition. We are learning too. We accept that. We have research and data internationally and from Ireland. We have copious numbers of people giving us their views. We know we cannot satisfy everybody. In fact, we do not even try. We try to be independent and if that means we have to disagree with people on the employment side, that is fine. If it means we disagree with employers, that is also fine - or agree, as the case may be. We try to be research based and fact based and try to give some sort of recommendations that the Government can draw comfort from. I draw comfort from the fact that the Government has always accepted the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission, even when they have been extraordinarily low and cautious at times, when it did not believe they were justified or like now, when there is a substantial increase in the minimum wage and the Government has gone with that and with us. It is something we will always try to balance out but we know we cannot win. We know we are not here to please everybody and we are not going to try.