Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this very important piece of legislation. I warmly welcome the High Pay and Wealth Commission Bill. I commend Deputy Broughan on introducing the Bill to the House. I will always work with someone who believes in fair play, proper wages and conditions and also to do something about inequality in society, in particular in the constituency Deputy Broughan and I share – Dublin Bay North. The people of Coolock, Artane, Darndale, Clonshaugh, Marino, Clontarf, Raheny and Howth all believe in the principles of social justice. It is very important that we agree with that approach.

The reason I support the legislation is because it is progressive.

It is sensible, has a great sense of social justice and deals with the issue of inequality.

There seems to be something wrong in modern Irish politics when politicians in mainstream parties are almost afraid to talk about wealth and inequality. It is as if one was doing something wrong if one raised the fact that somebody has too much money. It is important that this voice is heard. There are elements in the establishment, the mainstream parties and wider society who want to frighten the bunnies and those of us who campaign for equality. We have a rich list in this country that is reported upon by the media and treated as a sensationalist story where people are named. There should be something more constant about the rich list. There should be ongoing professional and common sense information about this.

Even if one is not on the left or has no sense of social justice, one can see that the OECD, the World Bank, the IMF and TASC have said recently that gross income inequality is growing and that this has been identified as a serious impediment to future economic growth. That is the key issue. Removing inequality is good for the economy even if one has no sense of social justice and it is important that we say that. We have seen economic crashes before such as that of 1929 but the common thread is they were always preceded by a significant level of inequality. That is historic fact so there is a red light there. If we do not want to repeat the mistakes of the past, we should deal with this issue.

I hear some Ministers and Members on the Government side talk about the horrific situation on the ground in Greece, the amount of suffering being experienced, unemployment and runs on the banks yet, Greece is being rounded on by certain quarters in Europe. We should be siding with the people of Greece and should not take any lectures from big countries like Germany. Germany defaulted unilaterally in the 1930s and received massive debt relief in 1953. Poland had large debts written off in 1989. They are lecturing the Greeks today. Greece is a broken country but all of the EU should help. We need a collective response, not isolation. Ganging up on the Greek people, including workers and the unemployed, is totally unacceptable and unjust.

It is constantly said that there is not enough money in the country to look after these issues and deal with low pay. According to the Department of Finance, whose financial reports are not written in Havana, the top 1% of earners, who number 21,650, have an annual gross income of €8.7 billion. Tell that to the Dunnes Stores workers. Top earners earn on average €403,703 per annum, which is more than ten times the average industrial wage. Let us take a few bob off those people and give it to people who deserve it. According to the Revenue Commissioners, corporate profits have increased, with gross trade profits increasing from €70.8 billion in 2010 to €73.8 billion in 2011. We must be brave and not run away from the issue of wealth, profits and top earners because we seem to be afraid to challenge these people.

The primary aim of the Bill is to establish a high pay and wealth commission which will have a specific role in informing the public about levels of wealth and incomes in Irish society. This is the kernel of the argument. It should not be up to the sensationalist newspapers to do this. The commission will build on the work being done by the CSO in carrying out the European household finance and consumption survey for the European Central Bank. The Bill is being proposed in response to the growing dissatisfaction with income inequality in Ireland and other Western developed economies. It is proposed to facilitate a greater understanding among the general public and policy makers. These are very practical and sensible measures if we are serious about doing something about inequality.

The proposal to establish a high pay and wealth commission will ensure that the information will be gathered by an entity with the tools that are necessary to develop appropriate fiscal and budgetary policy recommendations to Government, Opposition Deputies and the public. Again, this is a sensible proposal. When one digs down into the legislation, one sees its common-sense approach. Dig down further and one will see that section 6 sets out nine specific functions of the high pay and wealth commission in respect of executive pay, including the commission's engagement in a research project to be known as the "executive pay project" . This is an examination of levels of income and other benefits awarded to executive members of staff in large public and private companies. One can compare that to what we heard last week in the Dáil when we met the Dunnes Stores workers who came in and talked about their zero hours contracts, pay and working conditions. The Minister of State has a special interest in this area and I acknowledge that he is making some effort in respect of it. There is huge gap in the market and section 6 contains ways of highlighting it.

Given that we are coming out of a crisis, we need to see secure hours, incomes and jobs; fair pay; and the right to representation by a trade union. I appeal to the management of Dunnes Stores, which made a profit last year in the region of €400 million, to show some common sense, listen to its staff and come into the real world. It is the staff that has helped it make that profit of €400 million.

I welcome this legislation. We need to face up to the fact that there is wealth in our society and that 31% of the population and 37% of children suffer deprivation. We need to do something about that. I also welcome the fact that we have had this debate today because many people outside Leinster House say that we do not have these kind of debates. It is a pity that more Deputies were not in the House to contribute to it because we must do something about gross inequality in Irish society. Now is the time to do it if we are reforming the system after the horrific economic crash. There is huge potential to do it. I commend Deputy Broughan for bringing this legislation before the House.

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