Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

I move:

"That Dáil Éireann:

— recognising that the national minimum wage is low, providing a full-time employee with less than €18,000 annually (with reductions for those under 18 or in their first job), and that amongst EU states it ranks as 12th highest when measured as a percentage of average monthly wages and 9th highest if measured in terms of

purchasing power parity;

— accepting that:

— the current minimum wage has not kept pace with average growth in wages or been increased since July 2007;

— the 2009 income levy has already reduced the real value of the minimum wage; and

— the new universal social charge will be payable on wages at this level;

— concerned that 116,000 workers, or 6.6% of the workforce, are living below the poverty line, that the working poor make up 24% of all those in poverty and 40% of all households in poverty, and that the minimum wage is especially relied upon for protection by women, migrants and other vulnerable workers;

— noting that only 4% of workers, and only 1.2% of industrial workers in export sectors, are on the minimum wage, with no major impact on competitiveness;

— acknowledging the role of a statutory minimum wage in protecting against unfair competitive advantage by unscrupulous employers who exploit their workers;

— further acknowledging the opportunity available through the Labour Court, which has yet to be invoked by any employer, to plead inability to pay the national minimum wage;

— reaffirming that a statutory minimum wage is a statement of core values, providing a threshold of decency under which society agrees that workers' wages should not fall, and that a reduction would signal a race to the bottom in which everyone – low wage workers, public and private sector workers, social welfare claimants and pensioners – will suffer;

— believing that a reduction in the minimum wage will only create a disincentive to work, will have no impact on the public debt or on economic recovery and makes

absolutely no sense at any level;

— condemning the Government's logic that poverty wages will create more jobs and that welfare rates must be below even those poverty wages, which logic will in turn require major cuts in welfare payments; and

— appalled that the Government's four year plan has targeted the most vulnerable members of society and convinced that the proposed reduction in the minimum wage of one euro an hour will have the most profound impact on those who are poorest, deepen their poverty and draw more workrs into poverty;

condemns the Government's unnecessary, unwise and unfair decision to reduce the national minimum wage and calls for a reversal of this cut."

With the permission of the House, I wish to share time with Deputies Tommy Broughan and Kathleen Lynch.

See this speech in context