Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the contributors for the remarks they made. They are making a strong case for the establishment of an institutional framework like the Low Pay Commission and for the collective bargaining legislation I am introducing, the re-establishment of REAs and sectoral employment orders and the work I intend to carry out on zero-hour and low-hour contracts. We are all at one on that. We may differ in terms of how we might approach it, but the best way to tackle incidents of low pay is to do it in a strategic, sustained and structured way and try to change our institutions to ensure they are hard wired to constantly seek to address the issues that concern us all and those who spoke on this particular amendment.

Section 4 sets out clear objectives for a national minimum wage, which are designed to assist as many low-paid workers as is reasonably practicable, set at a rate that is both fair and sustainable and, where adjustment is appropriate, is adjusted incrementally and over time is progressively increased without creating any significant adverse consequences for employment or competitiveness.

I have stated previously in the House, and I have no hesitation in stating again, that I want to see the national minimum wage progressively increased where the economic circumstances and the demands of job creation, social conditions and other requirements converge. I want to see better working conditions for people and improved pay, particularly for low paid workers. It is something that motivates me as a public representative. One of the reasons I went into public life in the first place and sought a mandate from the people I represent was to do precisely that, and I am doing that. The Low Pay Commission can present an opportunity to change our institutions to make sure that we have an institutional response in a sustained, strategic and structured way to the issue of low pay.

Section 5 provides for criteria to be taken into account regarding the areas Deputy Boyd Barrett and Deputy Tóibín spoke about because, in reality, and it does reflect this, it refers to changes in economic distribution during the period since the last order so on a continuous basis, the Low Pay Commission will be examining the changes in income distribution and will have to respond to those in its annual reports, not just on the national minimum wage but on the various other issues it will address on an annual basis.

The objective of ensuring that workers are entitled to just and favourable remuneration is clearly built into the criteria that will guide the commission in making a recommendation to me, and to future Ministers, on the appropriate level of the national minimum wage and, therefore, I cannot accept amendment No. 5.

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