Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The problem is that the Government is not a neutral bystander. It has and implements policies that encourage the creation of a very low wage sector in the economy, many of which represent subsidies to employers. One example which I have raised repeatedly is JobBridge which directly costs the State approximately €60 million a year in payments to those participating in the scheme but which costs the State multiples of that amount in lost employers' PRSI payments and employee income taxes by allowing companies to benefit from free labour. What has happened in this country, under the guise of the crisis and the need to improve competitiveness, is that the share of wages relative to profit has continued to plummet. The IMF found that Ireland had witnessed the largest decline in the share of labour among the industrialised countries between 1970 and 2012. That process has continued and it can only be reversed by a strong trade union movement but also by legislation introduced by the Government on the minimum wage.

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