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

The objective is to eliminate low pay. There are many ways to define low pay but it is generally defined as the pay of those earning less than 66% of the median wage. With the introduction of the national living wage, the intention is to go to 60% initially and, provided the economy can manage it and businesses can afford it, to 66% thereafter. That would, at least on a statistical basis, eliminate low pay. That is what we aim to achieve. We will have auto-enrolment starting in 2024, which means people will have better pensions, although it will take a while for that to become a reality. Some of the reforms we are likely to see over the next year or two concern collective bargaining legislation, making the joint labour committees operate properly. This is because many on low pay tend to work in retail and hospitality, which are among the sectors where the joint labour committees are not functioning. There is an opportunity to make them work right and better.

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