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

We want to reward work and ensure that work pays more. Minimum wage workers are among the hardest working people in Ireland and deserve to paid appropriately, particularly at a time of rising prices. In September, the Government agreed to accept the Low Pay Commission’s recommendation to increase the national minimum wage by 80 cent to €11.30 from 1 January 2023. At least 164,000 people will benefit, but with think many hundreds of thousands more will benefit too, because of the knock-on increases that those on slightly higher pay will get. It works out at roughly €30 per week, €120 a month or €1,664 a year for a person in full-time employment.

Ireland has a well-established system for setting the minimum wage based on the Low Pay Commission and it is a system that works well. As the Deputy is aware, I want to move from a national minimum wage to a national living wage. Following Government approval in November, I announced the introduction of a national living wage for employees. This will be benchmarked at 60% of hourly median wages in line with the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission. It will be phased in over a four-year period running to 2026. The new agreed national minimum wage of €11.30 per hour from 1 January 2023 is in line with this transition and therefore next year can be considered the first year of a proposed four-year path towards reaching a living wage of 60% of median wages. The introduction of the living wage is the latest in a series of improvements to workers' rights over the last five years, including statutory sick pay, protection of tips and service charges and a new public holiday and the work-life balance legislation currently going through the Dáil.

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