Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I was not confused. The living wage was based on the concept that we should provide an adequate income to enable individuals to afford a socially acceptable standard of living. The Low Pay Commission recommended a 30 cent increase in the minimum wage to come into effect in January which will bring it up to €9.55 an hour. Last year there was a derisory 10 cent.

It is almost 18 months since the Government was formed and it has yet to provide any guidance to the Low Pay Commission to even allow it work towards its target of €10.50 an hour which is in the programme for Government, let alone a real living wage of €11.70 an hour.

The Labour Party proposed that the mandate of the Low Pay Commission should be changed to target the minimum wage to 60% of the median wage by 2021 to deliver a living wage for all. I ask the Minister if she will change the remit of the Low Pay Commission to at least deal with her own target of €10.50 per hour. A snail would get from Mullingar to Dublin quicker than the Minister will do this, and that is some 90 km. That is all I am asking. There is a pathological opposition within the Government to ensure this happens. It may not reside with the Minister but I recall that a number of her colleagues were not very happy when I fought to ensure that the reduction of the minimum wage was reversed in 2011.

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