Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am very proud to speak on this important legislation and to support it. I commend my colleague Deputy Nash, in particular, on his ongoing commitment to increasing the wages of those paid the least in our society and on his amazing work in government in the worst of times in establishing the Low Pay Commission and in bringing about increases of 20% in the minimum wage, something which has not been replicated since.

Ireland has a well-developed social support system and a highly progressive income tax system which is recognised as one of the most progressive in the OECD. We also have a reasonably well-developed social protection system that supports families whose household income is recognised as inadequate to meet their needs and to maintain basic acceptable standards of living. Those are policies and political decisions that the Labour Party has not only always supported, but which it has championed over the years. However, all of us in this House must address a much more fundamental question. Why is that level of social support required? The answer is straightforward, direct and simple. Too many Irish workers in full-time employment do not earn a wage sufficient to sustain an acceptable standard of living. That is a stark reality, a reality that is masked to some extent by the tax and social welfare policies that have been put in place. At its core, this is truly a basic question for the House and the Government to address. Is it acceptable to have an economic model where full-time work does not automatically mean a decent standard of living? That is the question. It is acceptable for all of us to preside over an economic model in which people working full-time, 39 or 40 hours a week, do not earn enough to sustain a decent standard of living? Is it acceptable to have a model under which it is okay for employers to pay a wage that does not allow workers to enjoy a standard of living we now regard as basic? That is the model we have built and the model I believe we must change.

The Bill before us sets out how to change that model. It sets a pay floor for decent wages. What is provided for in this Bill? It is not earth-shattering, as other Deputies have rightly said. We accept that. Simply put, it would put into law that persons working full-time jobs must be paid above a minimum acceptable income threshold. The Bill amends the National Minimum Wage Act 2000 to provide for a living wage to be the national minimum wage payable. It would mean that the minimum wage would, under law, be determined by the Low Pay Commission and that it would be a wage that, "if paid to a single adult person living alone and in full-time employment, would afford the person a standard of living that meets the physical, psychological and social needs of recipients at a minimum but socially acceptable level". That is not too much to ask. Right now, that rate is determined to be €12.90 an hour. As others have rightly said, that rate does not, of course, reflect the ongoing inflationary pressures that are real right now to every individual and household. The rate of pay would, as I have said, be earth-shattering, but it would be truly transformative for the tens of thousands of workers now earning nothing like a living wage. In crafting the Labour Party's submission to the Low Pay Commission consultation, which he submitted in March, Deputy Nash set out a path to achieve that. This is a basic and fundamentally important issue and it really is time to address it.

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