Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

It is difficult to take seriously the Government's belated conversion to the cause of dealing with low pay just six or nine months before a general election, given the fact that the problem has been chronic and worsening for the four years that it has been in office. Compared with our European counterparts, our standing in this matter is stark and shameful. We have the second highest level of low pay in the OECD. We are the worst in Europe, with 22% of people being low paid and 16% of workers living in poverty. One might claim that all of this is down to the recession, but compare it with the rest of Europe. The digest provided by the library service was helpful, as it supplied a table of comparisons with minimum wage rates everywhere else in Europe. It is extraordinary that there have been significant increases in minimum wage rates virtually everywhere. Belgium's has increased by 15% since 2008, Bulgaria's has increased by 64% and the Czech Republic's has increased by 11%. Spain, one of the worst hit countries, has managed to increase its minimum wage by 8%. France's has increased by 14% and Latvia's has increased by 57%. Portugal, another country that we might be compared with, has seen an increase of 19%. The UK's has increased by 11% and the minimum wage in the US has increased by 50%. Here, there has been nothing, but four years into office, the Government has suddenly decided that it is worried about low pay. One must be cynical.

Given what this Government has been responsible for, it suggests that the Government has been encouraging a race to the bottom or has failed to take action about factors that result in low pay. Gateway, JobBridge and the cuts to lone parents payments that I tried to demonstrate to the Tánaiste this morning have reduced the economic benefit and incentive to lone parents to work. They will lose money thanks to the cuts that the Tánaiste is imposing while Gateway and JobBridge displace and undermine jobs, although I will not say "well-paid jobs". Those schemes further encourage a race to the bottom, with people working for nothing when they should be paid proper wages.

The consumer price index, CPI, is not increasing dramatically, but the largest outlay for workers is accommodation. Rents have increased by 21% in Dublin and property prices have increased by 41% in the past year. The cost of putting a roof over one's head has increased significantly, yet there has been no increase in wages. As a result, there has been a dramatic spike in the number of people living in poverty, including those who are working, and a spectacular growth in the gap between rich and poor. Meanwhile, the Government has done nothing about the spike in recent years in the wealth levels of those at the top.

In the past 25 or 30 years, the proportion of national wealth that goes to wages has decreased by 10% while the proportion that goes to profits, shares and bonuses - basically, to the rich - has increased by 10%. The recession has accelerated this. There has been a transfer from workers to the rich, but the Government has done nothing about it. The idea that the Low Pay Commission will deal with it is ludicrous.

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