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

The latest numbers, as the Deputy is aware, indicate that wages are rising in Ireland but not rising as fast as inflation. The Government does not centrally control wages but there are different mechanisms by which we can influence how much people are paid. In the public sector, for example, we have negotiated a new pay agreement, which will go out to a ballot. That agreement has been made by the Government and recommended by various unions. I hope it will get through. That would see people receive pay increases this year and next year to help them with the cost of living.

In some sectors, the Government also has a role to play. The Deputy will be familiar with the childcare sector. The Minister of State, Deputy English, has just signed off on a new employment order, which involves significant and well-deserved pay increases for that sector. I recently signed off on an increase to the national minimum wage, which mainly covers people in the private sector, but in some public sector agencies as well. That was an increase of 7.6%, just below inflation. In other parts of the private sector, it is negotiated at individual level. I am not telling the Deputy anything he does not know but they are the kinds of measures we are taking: a public sector pay deal to increase the pay of our own staff, increases in the national minimum wage, and wages in the sectors that are covered by employment regulation orders, EROs, and sectoral employment orders, SEOs. What is happening in the private sector depends on the enterprise.

Maintaining standards of living is not just about pay rises. Pay rises have to be part of it. At a time of high inflation, people need a pay rise to help them with the rising cost of living but it is not the only thing. The Government can also help by reducing income taxes, which is something I am very much in favour of.

The Government can help by increasing welfare payments. For example, the working family payment can help some people. It is also helping to reduce costs, such as the cost of childcare. It is not just about how much people get paid, it is about how much people get to take home after taxes and government levies and about how much it costs to get by on the money people have. It requires these three approaches of pay increases, tax reductions and reducing some costs of living such as childcare.

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