Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Everyone's financial circumstances are different. As the Deputy will know from all the studies and reports done in respect of the national minimum wage, very often it is not the main income of the household but a secondary or part-time income in many cases. It depends on the individual circumstances whether there are rent or housing costs, or not.

As it stands, the national minimum wage is the second highest in Europe and the sixth highest when the high cost of living is taken into account. The law states the national minimum wage is calculated by the Low Pay Commission, which was established by the current Oireachtas to do that work. It takes into account a number of factors, such as the need to ensure that people who are at work get a decent wage but also the need to ensure we do not end up doing anything counterproductive by causing people to lose their jobs, particularly in Border areas, or to lose their hours, thereby ending up worse off if we make it too high.

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