Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is clear that while the code of practice was very well-intentioned and is a decent piece of work, it is not working. Mandate is telling us nearly two thirds of retail workers are earning less than €451 per week. That is not even getting within a million miles of anything that would be a living wage. I attended the launch of the report where some of the workers from the shop floor spoke. They say that sometimes hours are used as a mechanism almost to control workers. For example, if you happen to be the shop steward, the person who is handing out the union membership forms, or the person who is seeking a meeting with management because you are not happy with how things go, all of a sudden you will find yourself at the lower end of the bands.

When the banded hours legislation came in, it did not have everything in it that Mandate looked for or that we looked for. However, everybody accepted it was a very good place to start. I welcome the Minister of State's words. Now is the time for a review, but I ask for that to be done quickly. We are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis and these are among the lowest-paid workers in any sector in any industry. The message that is coming very clearly from the report, Smoke and Mirrors: The Facts About Retail Workers' Incomes in Ireland, is that they are struggling.

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