Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

A number of very interesting points have been made. I would not have had the opportunity to become a councillor had I not had a very understanding employer when I first entered public life in the late 1990s. I am sure this experience will chime with that of many in this Chamber this afternoon. The issue needs to be taken very seriously. Over recent weeks, I noted that some people are very reluctant even to take on the responsibility of being mayor of the local authority. This is a great honour and privilege that I once had. The reluctance is due to the time commitments and various other commitments that need to be made on taking on the role while also trying to maintain busy a working life.

There is a range of issues wrapped up in Senator Landy's remarks. I will bring them to the attention of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, as I acknowledge the Senator has done on many occasions. I am sure the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, who is very supportive of local government and who recognises the importance of local representation, will pay serious attention to it. The Senator can be assured that I will discuss this with him directly.

I am very taken with Senator Landy's remark that the opportunity to enter public office, as a member of a local authority, the Seanad or the Dáil, should not be restricted to particular sectors of society. That would not be democratic. This Chamber and others needs to be democratic, and we must insist that all our democratic chambers across the country are, reflective of the population in general in so far as that is possible.

When I first became a member of a local authority, there were no salaries, as such, in place. They were introduced in the early 2000s. That was a step in the right direction. A general principle I apply, including to my political views, is that people should be paid for the job they do, regardless of their position. It is not popular to say that. With pay comes respect. Of course, the role of the councillor has evolved significantly over the past 20 years. It is a very onerous responsibility. Many of the reforms introduced by the former Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Mr. Phil Hogan, and the review the current Minister, Deputy Kelly, is undertaking in regard to the policy document must be taken into account. There is no doubt about that.

On Senator Keane's point on gender equality, I do not believe we need any more reports to tell us what we already know, namely, that there is a significant pay gap based on gender. This is and will be of concern to the Low Pay Commission, and it will always need to be mindful of that. As Senator Zappone stated, women are unfortunately only too well represented in sectors of the economy that are synonymous with and associated with low pay. I am anxious to see the Low Pay Commission addressing these issues. The figures and anecdotal experience indicate to us that a very significant number of people who are merely existing on the minimum wage are women.

I will speak to the amendments proposed in the grouping. Section 5 sets out a very comprehensive and challenging set of factors that the commission must take into account in any year in coming to a recommendation on the appropriate rate of the national minimum wage. Amendments Nos. 3 to 14, inclusive, provide for the addition of a wide range of factors that the commission would be required to take into account when making a recommendation. I thank Senators for the thought they have given to the additional factors that could be considered. I thank them also for the spirit in which they put their ideas forward. There are many amendments I would not disagree with in principle, but their application may be very difficult administratively. I will address this now in more detail.

To add further wide-ranging lists of factors to be taken into account, as set out in amendments Nos. 3 to 14, would mean the commission could not possibly undertake analysis at the level required. It would find it difficult to produce an agreed recommendation, or perhaps any recommendation at all, by a set date on an annual basis. I am establishing a set date in primary legislation by which the Low Pay Commission will need to respond to the Government each year. I have given significant consideration to the criteria laid down with Government colleagues in the drafting of the Bill over many months. Many of them have stood the test of time in that they were previously incorporated into national minimum wage legislation dating from 2000.

Some of the additional factors proposed this afternoon concern issues such as decent work, as referred to by colleagues and responded to by Senator Quinn. The factors are part of a wider decent work and dignity at work agenda I am pursuing. This includes the issues of zero-hour and low-hour contracts, the reform of collective bargaining legislation, the reintroduction of a system of registered employment agreements, a new mechanism for setting sectoral employment orders and the system we now have in place for joint labour committees.

Previous references to changes in earnings have served us well. I do not consider it necessary to refer specifically to median earnings changes, as proposed by Senator Reilly, or proportions above or below particular proportions of median earnings. There is significant expertise on and available to the Low Pay Commission. It has resources by which to gain access to information, including new research, if required, in order to interpret properly changes in earnings data. I have no doubt whatsoever that the Low Pay Commission will be and is utilising these kinds of data to allow it to arrive at a recommendation in the case of the current review.

Other proposals are more difficult to interpret and may not be of particular relevance to the concept of the national minimum wage. For example, it would be a very significant requirement to have the Low Pay Commission differentiate between every sector's business model and performance on an annual basis or to carry out an assessment of innovation changes in each sector. If I were to accept that proposal, I would be obviating the need for registered employment agreements, sectoral employment orders and other arrangements. Sometimes the only group of people looking for the national minimum wage to be divided out a little comprises employers who in some cases believe we should have different rates for different sectors of the economy or for different regions. We have a national minimum wage, a statutory floor beneath which no wage should be allowed to fall. That should remain the case. In this regard, the minimum wage does set a floor for earnings, and different sectoral models and different levels of innovation may very well differentiate between pay levels above the national minimum wage. Equally, aggregate demand in the economy and tax receipts are valuable background conditions to which the commission will be attuned, but I do not believe they should be criteria for a recommendation laid out in primary legislation.I have spoken in the past of my support for the development of the concept of a living wage in Ireland but I differentiate the application of a mandatory national minimum wage and a civil society movement that would see employers volunteer and be proud to pay a living wage. I intend to host a forum on the living wage in the autumn with employers, trade unions and civil society representatives. Employers are the one key group absent from discussions to date. I have never seen any trade union or any individual manage to get a pay rise, or any class of a pay increase, if they did not engage respectfully with their employers. In regard to comparisons with Northern Ireland, or any other jurisdiction which has a national minimum wage, it is fair to say that these are compared by looking at the absolute values and the purchasing power parity. I believe the commission has sufficient expertise available to it to make these distinctions. It would not be appropriate to specifically require the commission, on an annual basis, to analyse different welfare supports, health care provisions, child care and social housing across different jurisdictions. The interaction, or the nexus, between the national minimum wage and the tax and social welfare systems will be the fundamental focus of the Low Pay Commission, particularly in the context of the role of the national minimum wage and what the rate should be.

In regard to the promotion of equality and gender equality it is important to note that the national minimum wage applies to all workers irrespective of gender - it is the epitome of a measure that it eliminates gender inequality in its application. However, as minimum wage workers tend to be predominantly female, by its very nature a national minimum wage is more beneficial to female workers. The comprehensive list of factors to be taken into account is essentially the same as those in the current National Minimum Wage Act and they have already stood the test of time since 2000 when the National Minimum Wage Act was introduced and first enacted. Accordingly I do not propose to accept amendments Nos. 3 to 14, inclusive.