Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

A year ago in this Chamber, the Tánaiste was being enthroned as the new Labour Party leader and Tánaiste and she promised a Low Pay Commission. It is very difficult to take that seriously when on one hand she is setting up a Low Pay Commission, and then this very week she is launching large-scale attacks on low-paid workers, mainly women, mothers who work part-time, through the one-parent family cuts. These are the low-paid women who get up early in the morning and clean our floors and offices, care for our relatives and who serve our coffee in Starbucks and elsewhere. It is women who are concentrated in the low-paid, casual sector, in the main, due to child care responsibilities. The opposition building up to the Tánaiste's cuts and the fact that she is launching a Low Pay Commission when she is attacking low paid workers must be registered.

We do not need a Low Pay Commission. There are no low-paid people on the commission, by the way. We have two union representatives, a representative from the Migrant Rights Centre, which is good, and we have academics. However, they are outnumbered by chief executives and company directors. There is already in-built discrimination in the body fighting for the low-paid. We have the CEO of Maxol. I wonder what he will have to contribute about low pay.

Ireland is scourged with low pay. Around 20% of workers earn less than two thirds of the average wage, which is one of the highest rates of low pay in the European Union. Ireland's minimum wage is only 75% of what is calculated to be a living wage, which is calculated at €11.45 an hour with which people would not be throwing many parties. If the Tánaiste really wants to stop low pay, the first thing she should introduce is an increase of €2.80 an hour to bring it up to a living wage at least for the few who are on it. If our minimum wage were nearer to a living wage, €1 billion more could be spent in the local economy, because it is obviously spent by people who live and work here. It would be a huge stimulus after the recession.

Income inequality is particularly hard-hitting in Ireland because our public services are inadequate compared to those enjoyed by other European countries. We have high fees for GPs and emergency department visits, child care costs and school book costs, which other European countries would not have. The cost of living is 20% higher here than the European average. Leaving aside the tax and social welfare systems, income inequality is among the highest in the OECD. Governments must then use social welfare to subsidise employers and this inequality through mechanisms like the family income supplement, which renders the attack on lone parents even more reprehensible. The inequality in society is growing. It is obvious and it is well-known, which is why there is a movement against austerity right now.

The top 10% in Ireland take one third of all income, which is up from 27% in the 1970s, so the bottom 90% have 66% of income. This is a global pattern. We see the shocking statistic from Oxfam that 80 people have the same amount of wealth as the bottom 3.5 billion on the planet. That is an obscenity, which cries out for the system to be changed. In the cradle of capitalism, the USA, one would imagine minimum wages would be much worse than ours. However, there is a movement of low-paid workers in America - fast-food workers, migrant workers and female workers - who are winning pay increases, without parliamentary commissions, because it is not generally commissions and governments that grant these things. I was recently in Seattle, which has established a minimum wage of $15 an hour. That is much higher than even the living wage I called for. It is not just in Seattle. It has set a precedent for other states. Los Angeles is now also adopting a $15 an hour minimum wage. That means that companies like McDonald's have to pay workers $15 an hour, but they can pay them much less in Europe, which is quite amazing when one considers how the balance has shifted. Even presidential candidates running in next year's presidential elections are raising the idea of a $15 an hour minimum wage in the US. We can see how far the Labour Party has fallen when we have €9 an hour, which is much less, despite having similar costs. We do not need a Low Pay Commission. It is a waste of money. It is obvious that workers need a pay rise.

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