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

I did not expect to see the "welfare cheats cheat us all" slogan being taken out for another spin, but here we are. Sinn Féin has long advocated for a proper pay-related social insurance system. The current system carries that name but the available supports, such as jobseeker's benefit, are not pay-related. Payment is given at a flat rate. This is unfair on working people who are unfortunate enough to lose their job. There is a cliff edge for workers, which should not be the case.

Sinn Féin wants a system that supports workers who have worked hard and paid PRSI. The current flat rate is unfair and not fit for purpose for hard-working people. A transition to a payment that is a percentage of previous earnings is important in ensuring workers are treated fairly, protected from a cliff edge and helped to get back on their feet as they seek new work. It is a great shame the Government has used the positive aspects of this Bill as cover for regressive policy change. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, it has added PRSI increases to the legislation. That is unacceptable and unfair. It is an underhand tactic that must be called out.

As well as a proper PRSI system for hard-working people, we must always ensure that work pays. New economic research from the Oireachtas Parliamentary Budget Office, PBO, published in its Spring Commentary 2024, shows that those in employment are seeing only negligible increases in their real incomes. This research reinforces the need for the Government to do more for workers by delivering a living wage and a right to collective bargaining. The research shows that workers' real wages will only increase by 1.8% in 2023-24. This negligible increase comes on the back of years of falling living standards and declining real wages for workers, as evidenced by separate PBO research on real incomes. That data shows that workers' real wages declined in 2022 and 2023 and that, despite any increase in workers' wages in 2024, they will still be worse off this year than they were in 2020.

In the midst of this, the Government has been kite-flying about pausing the move towards a living wage. It has refused to publish an action plan to increase collective bargaining coverage across the workforce to 80%, as mandated under the EU directive on adequate minimum wages. All the while, we have witnessed a race to the bottom in terms and conditions of work, an increase in low-paid work and the marginalisation of trade unions and workplace democracy. We have a situation in which workers are worse off now than when the Government came to power. That cannot and should not be tolerated.

The Government must state publicly that delivery of a living wage will continue uninterrupted and that it will make immediate moves to deliver a right for trade unions to organise and engage in collective bargaining. For far too long, workers and their rights have been an add-on or afterthought. Sinn Féin believes it is time for workers and workers’ rights to be front and centre of the political agenda.

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