Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Today is the day on which the Low Pay Commission is required by law to report. I gather from media reports that this report was considered by Government today and will be published this afternoon. The media reports made clear that the Low Pay Commission has recommended an increase of 10 cent per hour to the minimum wage. It is fair to say that this is a disappointing recommendation for the thousands of low-paid workers in the Irish economy. For a full-time worker, this would translate to just about €200 per year, hardly enough to lift a family out of poverty, I think we will all agree.

The establishment of the Low Pay Commission was a progressive move and the issue I raise here today is no reflection on the membership of the commission. Instead, I will focus on the Government's role. In the UK, their Low Pay Commission has been tasked with raising the minimum wage to at least 60% of median earnings by 2020. That was the specific target given to it by the British Government. During the general election, that was the policy that my party advocated. We expected to see the minimum wage rise to €11.50 an hour by 2020, an increase of approximately €5,000 a year. The programme for a partnership Government, published by Fine Gael published with its Government partners for this term, was less ambitious than what the Labour Party set out during the election, but it still included a commitment that it would support an increase in the minimum wage to €10.50 an hour over the next five years. Unfortunately, it appears the Taoiseach has not done anything to achieve that target set out in the Government programme. Instead of achieving a level of €11.50 within five years, if we continue at the current rate of recommendations today, we will not see that target reached until 2029.

My questions are straightforward. Why has the Taoiseach not changed the terms of reference for the Low Pay Commission to mandate it to deliver an increase in the minimum wage to at least €10.50 an hour within the five years set out in the programme for Government? Will the Taoiseach agree to implement such changes so that the Low Pay Commission will have a mandate before it produces its next report?

In light of the recent work that has confirmed the consensus on the living wage to be approximately €11.50 per hour, will the Taoiseach revise the commitment in the programme for Government to reach that level?

See this speech in context