Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies Broughan and Calleary and all those who made what were largely constructive contributions. I welcome the general expression of support voiced for the main objectives of the proposed legislation.

Setting up the statutory Low Pay Commission is, as I have said time and again, about taking much of the politics out of the setting of the minimum wage. That reference I make is often confused and people sometimes interpret it in a deliberately disingenuous way. I do not think the rate of the minimum wage should become a political football for anybody. The Low Pay Commission is about trying to make sure there is institutional change for people who are experiencing low pay, who are some of the most vulnerable in our society. When I talk about taking the politics out of the minimum wage, I mean that we would set up an institution that protects the interests of those who earn low pay because we cannot always assume we will have a Government in place that will do that. What we do not want to encounter again, when the next recession comes, is a situation where the first people to get a kicking from the Government of the day will be those who are merely existing on the minium wage. I believe this provides an important protection for people who earn low pay. The Low Pay Commission can be a transformative institution. It has enormous potential to protect and promote the interests of those who are on low pay and to create an equal and fairer society.

I am very pleased with the high calibre of people whom I have appointed to the commission on an interim basis. The commission was launched on 26 February and it has been operating on an interim basis for the past few months, as Deputy Broughan remarked. The enactment of this Bill will underpin its first recommendation of a new rate for the national minimum wage and that recommendation will be made by the middle of July. The establishment of the commission is a very important expression of my and the Government's commitment to the dignity at work agenda and it complements work I am undertaking in other areas around zero-hour and low-hour contracts. I very much look forward to receiving the study from the University of Limerick, which will assist me in pointing a way forward in terms of dealing with that whole area.

As I have said before and will say again, we are very aware of the need to balance fair pay with sustainable pay and sustainable job creation. However, we will not preside over an economic recovery which involves a ruthless race to the bottom. Neither will we sacrifice the economic and social gains and rights that have been hard won by, for example, the trade union movement since the foundation of the State, as referred to earlier by Deputy Maloney.

I make no apology for saying that. As the economic recovery continues to accelerate and unemployment continues to fall, we expect to see the benefits being shared by way of better working conditions and improved pay, particularly for low-paid workers. We are all winners when we move people out of poverty by providing decent jobs. Industry cannot prosper if we do not have the resources available in our communities to support economic activity and ensure we have people who are willing to pay for goods and services.

I want to see the minimum wage increased progressively when economic circumstances, the demands of job creation and social conditions and requirements converge. I have said throughout the crisis that while other countries that have been subject to bailouts have hollowed out employment rights and ripped down the architecture of protections for people on low pay and those who are vulnerable, we are enhancing the architecture and framework of employment rights, which is crucial and reflective of a fair society. I am very proud of the contribution that the Government and I are making to that, because it would have been easy to take an alternative position, as was the case in many other countries.

We have demonstrated our commitment to the well-being of lower-paid workers. One of the first things we did when we were elected to government was to restore the national minimum wage rate, which had been €7.65, to €8.65. We also reintroduced the joint labour committee system. We are introducing collective bargaining legislation and legislation to reintroduce registered employment agreements and sectoral employment orders, and embarking on a process to tackle zero and low-hour contracts. We also enacted the Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Act in 2012 to protect people who are working as temporary agency workers. Having restored the economy to sustainable growth with transformational policies implemented through the twin-track approach of the Action Plan for Jobs and Pathways to Work, we are determined to make sure that the economic recovery is shared right across the country in every single region, by all families, all working people and those who are unfortunately in a situation in which they are depending on social welfare.

It is also clear that we are committed to maintaining, enhancing and improving the employment rights architecture in this State. I will not rehearse those arguments again, as I have done so many times in this House. We are seeing the benefits of the ideas and imagination of the Government. Unemployment is now less than 10%. In the year to May 2015, the unemployment level fell by 40,500, or 16.2%. Most of the increase was in full-time employment. It is not just me saying that; the information comes from the Central Statistics Office and others.

Deputy Murphy and others have argued that this is an economic recovery that is characterised by an over-dependence on activation measures, but the numbers and tax returns do not lie. We know when we knock on doors in our constituencies and hold clinics that we can hear about what people are going through and the changes they have experienced over the past two years in particular. Many people are migrating from part-time work, which was a feature of the recovery in 2012, into full-time positions, often within the same company, which is a very healthy sign.

I refer to some issues raised by Members. Many raised the issue of a living wage. I have said inside and outside the Chamber that I will hold a living wage forum in the autumn, the first of its kind, to which we will invite civil society organisations, trade unions and, crucially, employers to discuss the concept of a living wage in Ireland and how it can be applied here. I have examined closely the various campaigns and initiatives in the UK, where there was a very successful civil society campaign. That is where the living wage concept draws its strength from - namely, the fact that it is a grassroots civil society campaign. It has been really successful in the UK, with around 1,500 separate employers across the country having endorsed the approach. It is a concept that I, along with the Tánaiste and my Labour Party colleagues, support.

Deputy Calleary mentioned the need for commissioners to meet employers and employees across the country. He is quite right. Low pay commissioners have met those who are on low pay and those on the minimum wage, and employers who are actively engaged in economic sectors that are associated with low pay. This happened a number of weeks ago in Galway as well as elsewhere. It is really important that those on the Low Pay Commission get a grasp of the real experience of those who are dependent on the minimum wage and those who operate companies in such sectors.

I give credit to Deputy Calleary for ensuring that he and his party made a detailed submission to the Low Pay Commission encompassing their views on the national minimum wage. I find it very difficult to accept arguments put forward by the likes of Deputy Tóibín and some of his Sinn Féin and populist left-wing colleagues in the House on the national minimum wage when Sinn Féin made no submission whatsoever to the Low Pay Commission on the national minimum wage. That brings great shame on the party. How can we take seriously its so-called commitment to those on low pay if it does not see fit to make a submission to a new institution created by the State that seeks to protect the interests of people on low pay? Unfortunately, Sinn Féin's interest in low pay does not extend to making a submission to the actual institution that will make a recommendation to me over the next few weeks. Fianna Fáil made a submission, which is to its credit, as have the Green Party and the Young Greens, but no other Deputy made one to the Low Pay Commission on what the national minimum wage should be. I take some of the contributions from those in the populist left and Sinn Féin with a large pinch of salt.

Deputy Calleary mentioned the need to name and shame employers which do not pay the national minimum wage and have been convicted in this regard. Since 2012, NERA has published the names of such employers, and it is its intention to do the same in its annual report for 2014, which has yet to be published. I encourage it to do so. He referred to the amendments to the Workplace Relations Act, and I will ensure that a detailed briefing is available to Opposition Members to ensure they are fully briefed. That is only right and fair and will contribute to a debate in the House.

Deputy Calleary will be pleasantly surprised when he sees the extent and range of the actions that will be set out in the regional action plans for jobs. They are very detailed and I do not think representatives of Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, local chambers of commerce, local enterprise offices and people in private industry would dismiss the various stakeholder forums we have undertaken over the past few months on the execution process of the Action Plan for Jobs. I do not think they will be dismissed as PR stunts. It has been a very significant exercise and I hope the Deputy is pleasantly surprised at the details, vision and ambition that will be contained in our job creation strategies for the regions. It is a critical project and I share his interest in ensuring that job creation is extended across this country.

The figures we have seen for the past 18 months in particular will show that areas such as the Border region and the south east, which have suffered considerably, are on their way back and job creation has been accelerated. In his absence, I would like to thank Deputy Tóibín for referring to the Resolution Foundation in the UK. I have followed its work for quite a number of years and met its representatives privately in recent months to discuss some of its report. I remain in very close contact with them. It is a very interesting organisation with a very interesting perspective. I wonder how interested the Deputy is in the research it carried out on low pay and economic activity or inactivity in Northern Ireland. I have read its figures and those from other sources in the UK that point to the fact that, unfortunately, the North is an area that is majority welfare-dependent, has a large amount of economic inactivity and is an economy built on a foundation of low-paid jobs.

The Northern Ireland Administration has come in for some criticism in recent times about the budget it is preparing to ram through the Stormont assembly. We have seen all sorts of shapes being thrown by Sinn Féin, which I do not take that seriously, about its concerns about the budget in that particular jurisdiction. It is in the process of sacking 20,000 civil and public servants there, the equivalent of letting go about 80,000 civil and public servants in the South. Sheila Nunan, general secretary of the Irish National Teachers Organisation, INTO, has said that what is proposed in the Northern Ireland budget will copperfasten it as a low-pay economy. We are all aware of the difficulties experienced in Northern Ireland around low pay, labour market and economic inactivity and high degrees of welfare dependency. Sinn Féin, however, has done diddly squat in Northern Ireland. I take its advice with a large pinch of salt. The pious platitudes that its Members offer here in this House will not put bread on the table in the North. I would urge them to get their own house in order before they start lecturing me or anybody else on the issue of low pay because their record is absolutely appalling.

Deputy Tóibín was deliberately disingenuous about the references that I have often made about taking the politics out of low pay. I will not rehearse the arguments again. This legislation is about trying to protect people on low pay. We do not know what kind of complexion future Governments will have. Will they target people on low pay? The Low Pay Commission is about ensuring we protect the interests of people on low pay and make evidence-based policy decisions to support people to move their situation on, improve their pay and general prospects. No one in this House would reject that. No one in this House is more passionate than I am about ensuring people’s prospects are improved and people can access decent, good sustainable jobs to provide for themselves and their families. I will not take lectures from Sinn Féin or anybody else on that front.

When Deputy Tóibín compares our regime to those in other jurisdictions, what he always deliberately fails to acknowledge is the range of other measures and institutional reforms we have introduced around the re-establishment of joint labour committees, registered employment agreements, sectoral employment orders and so on. These make a real difference to people working in often vulnerable sectors of society. I challenge those who are concerned about low pay and employment standards to examine and judge the Government on the suite of measures it is seeking to introduce around collective bargaining, registered employment agreements, sectoral employment orders and its efforts to tackle zero-hour and low-hour contracts.

Deputy Wallace was selective in the references he made on the criteria laid down in the legislation that the Low Pay Commission will consider when it is making recommendations on the national minimum wage. He failed to acknowledge that, for the first time ever, primary legislation will be in place with the ambition to progressively increase the rate of the national minimum wage, albeit when the social and economic circumstances converge. It is a positive aspiration and ambition to nail that down in primary legislation.

Deputy Pringle referred to the appointment process to the Low Pay Commission. I am satisfied its membership has the right balance with people with strong expertise, experience and track records in their own areas. They can bring much to the commission.

I welcome Deputy O’Dowd’s point that some Members on the Opposition benches make it out as if the Low Pay Commission was setting about attacking the interests of low-paid workers, not supporting or promoting their interests. Some of the contributions made were entirely cynical and opportunistic. They came from Members who have never achieved a single thing on behalf of people dependent on low pay or who want decent sustainable jobs. We hear much rhetoric and cant but absolutely no contribution whatsoever in improving the lot of low-paid workers. This can be a transformative body of legislation for people on low pay. The ambitions, aspirations and the objectives of this legislation are endless and will evolve over time. We should all acknowledge that it is a good start and strong institutional reform for those on low pay.

I reassure Deputy McLoughlin about the concerns that small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, may have around increases in the national minimum wage. We are taking a very balanced approach to reviewing the wage on an annual basis, as will be required under this legislation. Some extreme elements in the business community do not believe in the principle of a national minimum wage, however. The majority in this House would reject such a view. A balanced and robust set of mechanisms are reflected in this legislation which will ensure the commission’s recommendations are made in an evidence-based way.

Deputy Broughan welcomed the legislation and the principles it reflects. He asked why it was decided not to give all responsibility for setting the minimum wage rate to the commission. It is crucial that the democratically elected Oireachtas and the Executive have the opportunity to accept or reject a report from the Low Pay Commission, albeit one established on a statutory basis with the important function to make a recommendation every year on the national minimum wage. It is important constitutionally that this House retains that right. In some ways, he answered his question when he commented on how difficult it might be for the commission to reach consensus on a recommendation. Under this legislation, the Government will retain the right to set a rate in the absence of recommendation being forthcoming from the commission.

This is well-balanced legislation and its provisions have been given a significant degree of consideration. I ask that all Members support the Bill, its principles and what it is trying to achieve. We will be able to tease out in more detail some of the propositions made today on Committee and Report Stages.

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