David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I give a cautious welcome to this Bill, although I have some concerns and reservations about it and about the establishment of the commission itself, which I will articulate. Obviously, however, any measure that will hopefully put money into the pockets of low-paid workers is something I would wholeheartedly support.

We heard from the first speakers about the plight of businesses. I fully accept that we have to be conscious of the impact of any decisions we take on businesses, particularly small and medium-sized businesses. While I am not an employer, some people in my family are, and I know the pressures that many small and medium-sized businesses are under. In fact, I know many small entrepreneurs who themselves work for less than the minimum wage simply to keep the door open. That is the reality. Obviously, we have to be conscious of where business is at. However, I have listened very closely to many of the employer organisations over recent months on this issue, and they have been critical of anybody who has called for an increase in the minimum wage. They do not seem to be in favour of any increase in wages, except for middle and higher income earners. When it comes to low-paid workers, they do not seem to want to face up to the reality at all. For me, that is a problem.

The prevalence of low-paid, insecure work is a serious societal problem that is hindering economic growth and exacerbating inequality. Ireland has one of the highest rates of low pay in the OECD and of under-employment in the 28 members of the eurozone. The number of people in part-time work has increased by 13% since 2007, and the increasing use of zero-hour and low-hour contracts by employers, particularly in the areas of health, retail and the services sectors, has become a real problem.

The bottom line is that the legislation underpinning the work of the Low Pay Commission as presented renders it not fit for purpose. It appears that the Labour Party has learned none of the lessons of its sister organisation in Britain, which supports important reforms of the Low Pay Commission in Britain. I ask the Minister of State to take a serious look at that. I am a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, in which I am the rapporteur for a report on low pay, which, by the way, goes beyond the minimum wage. Some 5% of workers in this State are on the minimum wage, but 20% of all workers in this State are on low pay, according to reports from EUROSTAT, the OECD, the CSO, TASC and many others. That is one in five workers. The Low Pay Commission, or the low pay and minimum wage commission, which is what it is, only looks at the minimum wage and does not deal with low pay in its entirety.