Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 3, line 8, to delete “related matters” and substitute “matters related to low pay”.

We have had this discussion on a number of occasions in respect of a number of Bills, but the point must be made again now. Low pay and under-employment are entrenched within the Irish system. That means for hundreds of thousands of individuals the simple necessities of life are beyond reach for their families. As has been said, over 20% of the population is on low pay. The facts that people who are working are in poverty, that people who are working are getting a subsidy from the Government to subsidise their employers to pay them the low wage and that the State is employing people in the public sector on a low wage and giving them family income support, acknowledging that their wages are not enough for them to survive, mean that when we approach a Bill such as this we must do so with ambition and an understanding of the real lives of mothers, fathers and children throughout the State. For that reason, we have asked that the Government broaden the terms of the Bill.

The Bill refers to low pay. However the national minimum wage applies to 4.7% of the population. Low pay affects over 20% of the population, so over 15% of people in the State will not experience any positive effects from this Bill. From the start we have asked the Government to substitute the phrase "matters related to low pay" to broaden the scope. We have tabled this amendment and a number of other amendments to ensure we provide something useful to those people. I wholeheartedly urge the Minister of State, even at this late stage, to take the time to consider the families that have been left out of this legislation and to see how they can be helped.

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