Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis na toscairí as ucht a gcuid cur i láthair. Bhí siad an-suimiúil ar fad. How entrenched is low pay? Sometimes, people think we have always had low pay and the poor and things are really no different in this generation than they were in previous generations. Is 2015 radically different from ten or 20 years ago with regard to income inequality?

Could the witnesses relate that to their own sectors? I saw an interesting magazine cover recently which read "Women: Like men, only cheaper". I thought it was a shocking cover which obviously indicated that 14% gender pay gap. What practical elements could the Low Pay Commission have to ensure that this does not exist in the future?

If the commission looks only at the minimum wage, what difference, roughly, will it make in the witnesses' sectors? Will it make a radical difference or a 50% difference? Will it just tiptoe around the edges of the problem? Should the commission as it develops design a minimum wage for the next five years so that we are planning into the future and those median wages and the ratio to median wages we are looking at are increased over that period?

My last question concerns compliance. In the witnesses' experience, what is the incidence of lack of compliance? Is enforcement good enough? What can be done regarding enforcement?

My own experience is that enforcement can be very slow and cumbersome and miss the target completely as a result. There are obviously other views that enforcement is adequate. What is the witnesses' experience in that regard?