Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I spent Monday and Tuesday in Davos representing the country at the World Economic Forum. I was happy to do so. The Taoiseach is there now. It is important we are represented and it gives us an opportunity to tell our story, whether in relation to the protocol, what is happening in Northern Ireland or to our own economy. I flew commercially and stayed in four-star hotel. No doubt they charged for it but it was nonetheless a four-star hotel and a commercial flight.

There were some very interesting sessions. I spoke at one on the future of work. One of the megatrends affecting all parts of the world is low levels of unemployment, which are a good thing. Employers are struggling to get staff in almost every sector and we know that is the case here as well. In some countries, thankfully not this one - at least not statistically anyway - there is widening income inequality. Among the solutions I advocated there was greater technology use, greater use of automation, but also better wages and better terms and conditions. This Government is serious about that. We have the sixth highest minimum wage in the world, or in the western world anyway, based on purchasing power parity. We intend to improve on that through the move to a living wage, the introduction of auto-enrolment to ensure everyone who works in Ireland has access to an occupational pension in addition to the State pension and also the kind of laws I am bringing in at the moment, for example, on statutory sick pay. At the moment about half of people have it and half do not. By the end of this year everyone will. There is also legislation to protect tips and gratuities. We therefore have a very ambitious agenda as a Government when it comes to increasing pay, improving terms and conditions of workers and ensuring we eliminate pension inequality between the public and private sector, and that is what we are pursuing.

However, we also need to be honest with people. I am not suggesting in any way the Deputy is being dishonest, but I say it as a general point. Pay rises can only be part of the solution because they have to be funded.

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