Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I regularly encounter people who are working, and working hard, yet it is not paying off for them. They are still facing the difficulties we are becoming too familiar with these days, such as difficulties in meeting their housing payments each month, paying insurance costs to get them to and from work, paying for childcare and the list goes on. However, an increasing problem is how low wages, which have always made it difficult to pay for the essentials, are now being totally outpaced by the rising cost of living. While this problem has become a prominent issue, the Government at every turn tries to wash its hands of it. It is something Sinn Féin has been consistently pointing out and trying to get the Government to address. In the budget, the minimum wage was increased from €10.20 to €10.50 or 2.9%. In October, the same month as budget 2022 was announced, the consumer price index jumped to an annual rate of 5.1%, which was the highest rate since 2007. I ask the Minister of State how these figures compare. In the year to December it rose a further 5.5%. Given how the increase in the minimum wage is totally out of step with the rising cost of living, no amount of shopping around will help the many workers who are struggling to make ends meet and making very difficult choices between staying warm and putting food on the table.

Ireland needs a living wage, which is something Sinn Féin has done a considerable amount of work on. A living wage is the minimum income necessary for a single adult in full-time employment to meet his or her basic needs and afford an acceptable standard of living. That is why Sinn Féin has proposed an amendment to this motion that urges the Government to produce a roadmap to delivering a living wage within a strict timeframe. In the past, the Government has paid lip service to calls for a living wage but has done nothing to progress it. Instead, it has created a housing market that is out of reach of the average worker and has overseen a situation in which rents are skyrocketing. Young people are also being failed by this Government, which is happy to see them get paid sub-minimum rates while efforts to address this from the workers' side are hampered by a lack of collective bargaining to allow workers use the power of trade unions to improve pay and conditions.

Before any more Government Members think of advising struggling families to shop around, they need to remember those families have been shopping around for years, which is something the Ministers of State who give this advice from on high do not have to do. These citizens look at all options, unlike the Government, which is out of ideas.

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