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

I will address Deputy Boyd Barrett's question on the film industry first. I have not seen that dossier and cannot really comment on its substance without having seen it in the first instance. I do not know whether the Deputy has submitted it to Revenue or to other authorities which may be in a position to investigate it, if there was wrongdoing. I am not clear on the status of the dossier. The Deputy can certainly send it to my Department but again, as to the capacity to act on whatever information and how accurate the information is, I would have to wait until I saw what is being alleged. I surmise that the vast majority of the resources relate to Revenue as this concerns tax relief and so on in the film industry. Many would see such reliefs as a very significant catalyst for the creation of employment in the industry and for creating work for those employed more broadly in the film industry. The Deputy is right that there are state aid implications and conditionality attached but again, I would like to see the dossier. The divide between the tax relief issue and straight grants from the Irish Film Board or from RTÉ's procurement policies would all have to be broken down. What is important is that the basic entitlements of people working in the industry are met and underpinned. It would not be acceptable if unacceptable practices obtained in a particular sector of the economy to which significant State resources were allocated.

Deputy Ó Ríordáin raised the minimum wage increase. Since the establishment of the Low Pay Commission, previous Governments have accepted its recommendations. The Government decided to accept the recommendation that has been made. There are obviously wider issues here. I point out that the Government is supporting a lot of employment at the moment. Under the wage subsidy scheme the State is essentially supporting about 350,000 employees. As such there are issues about some employers' capacity to pay. The rate of €10.20 per hour is what the Commission recommended. No one has ever intervened with the Low Pay Commission in terms of the statutory underpinning of that. In fairness to the Deputy, moving to an ad hocsituation would not be the right approach. We have to work on the unions and employers getting back together for future arrangements, albeit in the context of a living wage. There certainly has to be a statutory system to arbitrate on the minimum wage and other issues pertaining to it.

Furthermore, the Ministers will be looking at a sectoral approach with the budget. We have already provided sector-specific supports in hospitality and in the arts. The Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, is very concerned about the situation because as I have said repeatedly, Covid-19 has had a terrible impact on the hospitality sector and arts and culture sectors. In the budget in particular, we will continue to see whether we can be more flexible with the income supports for those who are working, as well as availing of the PUP.

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