Gerald Nash (Labour) | Oireachtas source

We should be concerned about reports emanating from the Department of Social Protection today, undertaken by the ESRI on behalf of the Department which exposes the multitude of problems experienced by young people in society today. The message from the report, which I understand is to be released later today, is that younger people face very tough times in modern Ireland compared with their older counterparts. We all know the reasons for this are varied but one glaring and obvious factor in young people's experiences today is their particular exposure to precarious working hours and low pay. In order to close the income gap and the generation gap we must move our national minimum wage, responsibly and over a period of time, towards a national living wage.

This week the living wage technical group - an independent expert body - calculated the national living wage to be €11.50 per hour for a single worker. This compares with the Government's frankly miserable ambition for the national minimum wage to reach approximately €10.50 per hour over a five-year period. Next week the Low Pay Commission, which was established last year, will issue its second report on the national minimum wage rate and issue a recommendation to Government about the rate of the national minimum wage for 2017. This will be the Government's first test regarding assisting those on low pay.

We have heard statements from a range of Ministers and individuals from the Independent Alliance, which comprises part of this Government, that their ambition is to see a national living wage. However, the reality is that those very same Ministers signed up to a programme for Government that insists the minimum wage will only reach €10.50 per hour over the next five years.

The national living wage is currently a voluntary initiative and a considerable number of employers have adopted the rate of €11.50 per hour. There are certain workers in the State who are employed by the Government and its agencies who do not receive what could be described as a living wage. If the Government is ambitious enough, it is within its remit to ensure that young workers coming into the Civil Service and public service are paid a national living wage. This measure would only cost an additional €10 million to €15 million per year. Making sure that people who are working for the State receive a living wage of €11.50 per hour would be a good expression of the Government's bona fidesin assisting those on low pay.

It is important that the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation states in this House, and indeed at every available opportunity, her ambition for the national minimum wage, whether or not the State will become a living wage employer and what roadmap she has provided to the Low Pay Commission to reach the minimum wage of €10.50 per hour as provided for in the programme for Government. The Minister has been silent about the guidance she has given to the Low Pay Commission on reaching that ambition over the next while.