Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I thank People Before Profit-Solidarity for putting this motion on the agenda this morning.

We live in a very unequal society in an extremely unequal world. We have unacceptable rates of poverty. It is estimated that one in four people would be at risk of poverty and deprivation without social transfers. Even with social transfers we have 630,000 people below the poverty line, which includes 165,000 children.

A key factor in the high rate of poverty is low pay. There is a huge disparity in wage rates. Average pay, according to research by Neary is €53,000 a year but three out of every four workers come nowhere near that. The typical pay for 50% of workers is €34,000 a year but one in four people earns just €21,700 a year and that is for a full-time worker in or around the minimum wage.

The concept of a minimum wage is that it is supposed to act as a floor and have the effect of generally raising incomes. That is why the trade union movement fought for its introduction against huge opposition from the usual suspects. The reality is that the minimum wage has become the norm in widespread areas of the economy for workers who work in hospitality, floor cleaners, home helps, people who work in areas of retail and, as has been said, for some of the staff in Dáil Éireann.

Between 25% and 30% of all minimum wage workers in Ireland work in the hospitality sector. As noted in the motion, this particularly affects women and young workers. Many workers in hospitality rely on tips to bring their income up to a level where they can just about make ends meet. We then have the absolute scandal of tip theft by rapacious employers such as those at The Ivy, which is a restaurant that is located down the road from here. It really says something when the Government is forced to consider legislation to stop this practice.

The legislation needs serious scrutiny. It is a weak substitution for the Bill that was proposed by Senator Paul Gavan during the last Dáil. A serious problem with the proposed legislation is its definition of service charges which, as it stands, will provide a loophole for employers.

In terms of the minimum wage, a 30 cent increase in the budget is an insult. It represents a 3% increase, which is well below the rate of inflation, and leaves the minimum wage well below the living wage that is now estimated to be €12.90 an hour. In fact, I fully support the need for €15 an hour to meet the huge increases in the cost of living, which will particularly affect those on low incomes. Such a proposal will be met with outrage and ferocious opposition from employers.

Last summer, there was a huge outcry about the difficulties in recruiting workers when the hospitality sector was partially reopened. It was claimed then that the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, acted as a disincentive for young workers but that whole claim was nonsense. The reality was that labour force survey data for July to September of last year showed that employment was back at the 2019 level. The same people have now called for a relaxation of visas to bring in cheap labour from outside the EU. There is a determination to maintain highly exploited cheap labour as the norm.

The trade unions must back a new campaign for a new minimum wage to act as a floor and not the norm. The minimum wage must be set at a level that generally raises wages and tackles the scourge of low pay. I appeal to every employee and worker to join a union, get active and lodge pay claims in response to the cost of living.

Finally, I wish to quote someone in response to the comment made by the Minister of State, Deputy Sean Fleming, that people should "shop around". Oscar Wilde said:

But to recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.

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