Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Government can interfere in the market, as that is exactly what the national minimum wage does. Sinn Féin is suggesting the legally binding lowest average hourly rate become the living wage of €12.30 an hour. Whom would it affect the most? The majority on the national minimum wage are women, half of whom are young people, while 25% were born abroad. We can interfere in the market, but in response to a question about the issue yesterday the Taoiseach said it would result in job losses and affect the number of hours of work available. In 2016 the national minimum wage was increased from €8.65 to €9.15 an hour, a 50 cent increase. The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, found that there was no evidence that the increase had led to job losses. It found that there had been no adverse affects on low paid workers and that it had not led to job losses. They are the facts. We need to increase the national minimum wage to the living wage in order that people will be able to afford to live in this city and across the State.