Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The maritime area and foreshore (amendment) Bill has been drafted and will be taken in the House by the end of this session. The Deputy will be aware that I reached agreement with our partners in government following my election as leader of the Labour Party to have a commission on low pay which is a mechanism that has been used very successfully in other countries. The minimum wage and also the number of hours worked have a significant influence on the income earned. My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Gerald Nash, is working on the matter. I anticipate that he will come to the House to explain the proposals in detail. The commission will need to be established. He has visited the United Kingdom to examine how the commission on low pay works there. In countries and cities in which the living wage has been adopted such as London, employers have identified very significant gains. It is a voluntary measure on the part of employers, but those who have signed up to it see significant gains in company reputation, customer satisfaction and loyalty because people like to know that the workers in the companies with which they deal are properly paid. It is noted that where wages and conditions are good, the level of staff turnover is lower and people are loyal to the company compared to low-wage companies in which it is sometimes the case that the level of staff turnover is constant which results in significant expenditure on recruitment agencies.

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