Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

I am sorry but we have significantly increased the minimum wage. We have significantly increased it over the past number of years, and it will continue to increase. The Deputy talks about the living wage. The Government does not pay the living wage. He does not pay the living wage. Employers pay the living wage. Shops pay the living wage. The Deputy's local Centra pays the living wage, which is what he is saying. During an election campaign, the Deputy will go into the local Centra, talk to the person there and say "Oh yeah, you're dead right. I'll talk to the Government about that". That is what everyone in the Opposition did in the recent election. They said costs were too high and that we must do something for small businesses and for hospitality. This is an attempt to try to balance how fast and how rapid we make progress. That is it. The Deputy should not try to conflate this with some major agenda that is anti-worker because that is not what this is about, in any shape or form. We are moving ahead with auto-enrolment. The pay-related scheme is a very significant additional benefit that we can improve upon on in time. The State will take on a significant proportion of that, which is important.

In terms of the semi-State sector, rather than the ad hoc approach which has gone on for the past ten or 11 years, it is important to create a framework in terms of how senior executives in that sector are paid.

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