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

The programme for Government commits us to move towards a living wage in Ireland over the period of this Government. I have the report of the Low Pay Commission in this regard, which sets out a roadmap as to how we can achieve that. I intend to bring those proposals to Government before the summer recess and then engage on a public consultation on them. It is to be hoped we will make an announcement on that in the next few weeks.

It is a separate matter, but I very much agree with the Deputy on upskilling. We will talk to him some more about that because certainly the message from around the world, and from industry, is we need to make lifelong learning the norm so that people in work are continuously upskilled and are able to move up the ladder in respect of skills and pay.

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