Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to engage in this debate. I commend Senators Power, van Turnhout and Moloney on tabling the motion.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has brought the issue to the fore in recent times. I was very happy to sign the charter it presented to Members of the Oireachtas regarding subscribing to a national living wage that would be available to employees. I listened to what Senator Cullinane said about employees. There is a need for balance, which Senator van Turnhout from her days as an employer will recognise.

There is a need for a national debate on the issue, which goes beyond simply a wage. It is about what sort of society we want to have into the future. In Scandinavian countries and in Holland society is about much more than work. It is about living, leisure time, family time and having preschool facilities. All of that fits into the type of society. Today's debate is about having a living wage. While such a threshold would not be legislated for, all employees would strive towards it and employers would be encouraged to provide that level.

Dr. Micheál Collins of the Nevin Economic Research Institute produced an interesting initial document which can be used for part of the debate. He went into some of the work that was done in the greater London area looking at the minimum wage and the living wage there. In his budget today, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a national living wage that would be £9 by 2020 and the threshold would be somewhere around £7.50 or £7.60 this year, and the British low-paid commission would implement that. There is certainly something there we can use.

Particularly here in Dublin there is a rental crisis. In some parts of the city rents have increased by 48% over the past 24 months. That is creating widespread poverty in working-class areas. Setting the living wage might not necessarily deal with that, but there is a wider issue of where the State should be involved and where the State should not be involved. For example, should the State be involved in setting thresholds for rent to allow people to live in areas close to where they work or do people have to spend three hours commuting to Dublin? Is that the type of society we want? The State must be involved.

There is a theory of economics that suggests the state should not be involved in such issues. However, the state must be involved where there is market failure. Clearly there is market failure in the provision of adequate living standards to provide for people's needs - not their wants, just their basic needs - and that is what a living wage is about.

I commend the work done by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. The technical document that has been published is certainly very detailed. It covers a multitude, including transportation costs, educational costs, social inclusion and participation, housing, household fuel, personal costs, child-care costs, insurance costs, savings and contingencies, health, personal care, clothing and food. These are essential items for anyone and the State has to intervene in this area. I hope that in conjunction with his Government colleagues the Minister will be in a position later this year to set a plateau. I understand that the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Nevin Economic Research Institute identified €11.45 as the minimum living wage and we should strive towards that.

The research carried out in Britain identified £9 as the living wage required in London and the British Government announced today that it would achieve that by 2020. The information produced here and the research undertaken can facilitate a Government response, and I hope there will be a response to this important issue. It will distinguish our society. It will mean that the State has an onus to recognise and appreciate employees. We can recognise the valuable contribution workers make to our society by setting that living wage threshold. I hope the Government engage proactively on the issue.