Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is fundamentally wrong of the Deputy to attempt to make political capital out of a decision of the independent Low Pay Commission, which is not dictated to or influenced by the Government. In fact, the past five recommendations from the commission have been accepted by the Government. The Government supports low-paid workers. We have the fourth-highest minimum wage in European systems with a statutory minimum wage.

Right now, it is an extraordinary political charge for the Deputy to make about the Government not supporting low-paid workers. Under the EWSS, 350,000 workers will be supported by the State, as it continues. More than 200,000 workers are supported by the PUP, and a further 200,000 are supported on the live register. Approximately 750,000 workers, therefore, are still being supported by the State, right now, because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

To try to create the impression, therefore, that the Government is out to get people is outrageous in the context of an unprecedented intervention by the Government and the State to support workers at all levels, to support sectors and to do so in a sustainable way that can keep us going right throughout 2021. That is what the Government has been about. I regret the fact that ICTU has pulled out of the Low Pay Commission. I understand its reasons. It wants an increase of 20 cent in the minimum wage as opposed to 10 cent. I hope ICTU can rejoin the commission, because all of us in the House agree with an independent statutory body to decide on low pay.

Regarding the minimum wage, many employers are now in significant difficulty and the Deputy must know that. That is why the Government is supporting so many employers under the EWSS. Deputy McDonald and I do not pay the minimum wage; employers in small-to-medium-sized businesses do. They are under pressure, but, thankfully, many are proving resilient, even in the teeth of Covid-19. We must continue to support them because, fundamentally, what the Government wants to do is support people on low incomes and support workers, but also to create new employment opportunities. Substantial funding was put aside in the form of a wide range of placements, including via Skillnet Ireland, Springboard, the apprenticeship incentivisation scheme and additional third level places, to create more than 30,000 new places that can allow people to reorient and help them to get employment in areas such as retrofitting and similar areas where the State can spend additional capital funding to create employment and work.

I heard what Patricia King, the head of Congress, said, and I have great respect for the work ICTU does on fairness and in looking after low-paid workers. There will, obviously, be further engagement between the Government and ICTU regarding this matter, but it also has to be acknowledged that the Government, recognising the independence of the Low Pay Commission, has accepted all of its recommendations since 2016. We continue, however, to support workers through the various schemes we have developed and to keep as many jobs going as we possibly can in this society and economy.

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