Mr. Ois?n Gilmore:

On the question of the composition of minimum wage employment, quite a bit of detail on that is in chapter 3 of the report. Specifically on the question of immigration, we have data on employees earning the national minimum wage, or less, divided by nationality. Previously, it was found that people who did not have Irish nationality earned the minimum wage at a significantly higher rate than Irish nationals. In 2016, approximately 20% to 25% of non-nationals were earning the national minimum wage whereas slightly more than 10% of Irish nationals earned it. This has changed since then. Both numbers have converged and today very similar numbers of Irish nationals and non-nationals earn the minimum wage or less. That is visible in figure 3.2 on page 32 of the report.

With regard to the question of the caring professions and people working in that type of environment, it is a very difficult sector of the economy to observe. It is something that has arisen in the Low Pay Commission's deliberations on a number of occasions, including in the oral submissions made to the commission. It is a matter the commission has repeatedly had difficulty with precisely because there is not the evidence base on which to make decisions or recommendations. It is quite limited. One quite positive thing that came out of the commission's work last year is that we have awarded a bursary to Dr. Maeve O'Sullivan and Dr. Áine Ní Léime from the University of Galway, who will do a piece of research on work in the home care sector. The title of their proposed research is "Work in the home-care sector –low-paid, dead-end job or decent work?" It is hoped that will provide a stronger evidence base for us to answer those types of questions in future.