Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this Bill, which is very topical in the context of workers trying to weather the current storm of inflation. It is up to the Government to determine whether it will legislate for a living wage, but the trade union movement also has a huge part to play in representing the one in five workers who find themselves in low-paid employment. Most of that employment is in hospitality, retail and food production. Some companies in those sectors are extremely profitable while paying their workers what can only be described as an unliveable wage.

An important issue in the debate about pay is the phenomenon, which is not new, of the working poor. People, mainly women, are working in full-time jobs but are struggling. Indeed, they are struggling so much that they find it hard to exist. It is quite incredible that people who are going out to work for 39 hours per week are finding the basics unaffordable. The cost-of-living crisis is having an enormous impact on workers' standard of living. Their spending power now is nothing like it was even two or three years ago. The price rise spiral is pushing people into poverty who were never in poverty before, and that will have a negative social impact.

I urge the Minister of State to think of the benefits of a living wage. The first and most obvious benefit is that workers on a living wage would have at least €100 more than they would have if they were on the minimum wage. Obviously, that means they have more money in their pocket, which they will spend in the economy. People on a living wage, who are earning more than they would earn on a minimum wage, will be more productive and happier, and that will trickle down into their family and social life. All of the evidence across the industrialised world shows that clearly.

We cannot talk about low pay in isolation or without referring to the wealthy in this country who are doing incredibly well. Ireland ranks as the 14th richest in the world in terms of its GDP. The wealthy, the elite and the super-rich are doing extremely well while workers are struggling, but there is only so much inequality any society can take. There are pressure points and fault lines and it is imperative this Government introduces a living wage as soon as possible.

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