Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Getting people back to work is an overarching priority but getting people back to work is not the full story. People in work have to be afforded a decent standard of living and work must pay. I am aware of the mandate of the Low Pay Commission but that mandate can be changed by the Government. We have proposed that the terms of reference of the Low Pay Commission should be amended by including a requirement that it works to the achievement of a minimum wage equivalent of 60% of median income by 2021. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor, has resisted that change. Will the Government consider making a change to the terms of reference of the Low Pay Commission? It is not its fault that it allocated a miserable 10 cent per hour as that was all it could do under its terms of reference. Would the Government change that and make sure public sector workers are the first to benefit, and ensure the Public Sector Pay Commission, now in being, is mandated to deliver on a living wage for all public sector workers, for whom the Government has direct responsibility? Is it content to wait until 2030 before a decent living wage is paid to workers in the State?

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