Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It is Government policy that there should be a living wage for all Irish employees. I would like to see it too and we have a programme working towards that goal. The Deputy's question, though, asks if we can implement this through our public procurement policies and my understanding is that it is not legal to do that. It can be imagined that if we set a certain wage for a public procurement contract that we could then have people in another country, in a different jurisdiction with a completely different economic system, claiming they are being discriminated against and taking a legal challenge.

The plan for the living wage is that it would be set at 60% of the median wage in any given year. In 2022, that would be €12.17 per hour, and this contrasts with the minimum wage now of just €10.50 per hour. It will, however, increase to €11.30 on 1 January 2023. The idea, therefore, is to phase this in over four years, so that by 2026 everybody in Ireland will be earning a living wage. This will be a floor and it will be mandatory for all employers.

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