Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Ultimately, this is about decency. It is about giving people who are working full-time a wage upon which they can live. It is very simple. I was very interested in the Minister of State's closing remarks in which he said that the Government will not oppose the Bill, which is very welcome although it no longer really means much in this House. When the Minister of State and I first came in, that actually meant something, but there are now so many Bills sent off to never-never land that it does not really matter. I was more interested in how he concluded. He said that the report is with the Tánaiste, that it is being considered and that it will be published soon. I am paraphrasing the Minister of State but he said that this Bill was not a million miles away from the Government's thinking. I hope that is true because it is desperately needed given the current inflationary pressures. Furthermore and on top of that, it is needed quickly. Based on the Minister of State's honest summation at the end, I ask not only that the report be published and brought to the Cabinet, but also that it be acted on. If the Government is going to bring forward legislation similar to ours, we will not be precious about it. We will engage constructively on the basis of our beliefs, our legislation and what we have done. We will work with all of the partners involved, which, as the Minister of State knows, we always do, to move that forward and put it in place as quickly as possible and within a respectable timeframe. We support wage rises across the economy in line with inflation because profit margins are being protected while living standards simply are not. I will mention three other things. There must be negotiated pay rises for workers across society.

Those who say that should not happen are not living in the real world or are not being fair. Profits cannot just be protected while wages suffer. We must also change our laws to protect workers organising in the workplace to allow them to make the case to their employers for such pay rises and for better terms and conditions. We have a long way to go with that process, and this is something that is core to our party.

Regarding our submission to the Low Pay Commission, it is immoral how we, collectively, treat young people in the context of the wages we pay them. I am passionate about this. It is wrong to be paying 70%, 80% or 90% of the minimum wage to young people working in various service industries, especially in the hospitality sector. We must change this situation. Exploitation is going on out there and some people have been treated very badly. My colleagues and I know of many such cases. Perhaps this issue must be approached by looking at the minimum number of hours these young people can work versus the rate of pay. In a context where two people are working side by side, with a difference of a couple of years in their ages, it is no longer the case that these wages are pocket money. There should not be such a differential between how one person is paid because he or she is aged 17 or 18 and how someone else aged 21 or 22 is paid.

Returning to this legislation, we believe in a living wage, defined as meaning an annual wage that, in the opinion of the commission, if paid to a single adult person living alone and in full-time employment would afford him or her a standard of living that meets his or her physical, psychological and social needs. This Bill would transform the Low Pay Commission, which was introduced by my colleague Deputy Nash, into a living wage commission and provide the organisation with a timeline of three years to increase the minimum wage to a real living wage. This would be a living wage taking into account all costs, including those for groceries, rent, heating and all other forms of living expenses. It would be evidence-based and grounded in social consensus.

In principle, the living wage we are proposing - which I hope our colleagues will support, based on their comments so far - would be an income floor to ensure that people could live. Central to this Bill is the provision that the living wage must not be less than two thirds of annual median earnings, based on CSO statistics. I began by saying this is about decency. We cannot just say the way we are paying people is acceptable, given the inflationary pressures being experienced. We cannot camouflage everything just with social welfare and taxation. We must bring in the living wage. We will work with the Government, but time is of the essence.

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