Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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190. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his plans to introduce the living wage of €11.45 per hour; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17456/15]

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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The Living Wage concept is grounded in the idea that a person’s wage should be sufficient to maintain a safe, decent standard of living. At an individual level the resources required to achieve a minimum essential standard of living is very dependent on family circumstances and thus the interaction of individual earnings with household income and supports such as Child Benefit, Family Income Supplement and housing, education and health supports all contribute to an individual's standard of living. In the UK, it is a voluntary code that some employers, who pay in excess of the UK national minimum wage, are keen to be associated with. However, the UK does not have the Joint Labour Committee framework or Sectoral Employment Order framework that in the former case has been re-introduced and, in the latter case, is due to be put on a statutory footing very shortly.

Both frameworks provide or will provide for the setting of wages above the NMW.

In addition, it should be borne in mind that the National Minimum Wage (NMW) in Ireland is relatively high by international standards. The most recent figures published by Eurostat show that Ireland’s rate is the fifth highest among the 22 EU Member States that have a National Minimum Wage. When the cost of living is taken into account, Ireland’s rate is the sixth highest.

The Government’s decision to restore the NMW to €8.65 per hour with effect from 1 July 2011, together with the decision to put the Joint Labour Committee (JLC) on a more secure legal and Constitutional footing represents a significant commitment by this Government to protect the lowest paid and most vulnerable workers.

The establishment of a Low Pay Commission is one of the key commitments in the Statement of Government Priorities agreed in July 2014. The Commission was officially launched on 26th February 2015 to operate on an interim administrative basis. Legislation to provide for the establishment of the LPC on a statutory basis will be published shortly with a view to its enactment by mid-2015.

The principal function of the Low Pay Commission will be, on an annual basis, to examine and make recommendations to the Minister of the day on the national minimum wage, with a view to securing that the national minimum wage, where adjusted, is adjusted incrementally over time having had regard to changes in earnings, productivity, overall competitiveness and the likely impact any adjustment will have on employment and unemployment levels.

I am conscious of the need to balance a basic statutory minimum pay rate that is fair, with one that is sustainable and which allows employers to continue to create quality jobs.

Alongside examining the National Minimum Wage, the Low Pay Commission will also be tasked with examining matters related generally to the functions of the Commission under the Act. This work programme will be agreed by Government and presented to the Commission in February of each year.

The Commission has already commenced its work: submissions were sought recently and I expect that the Commission will submit its first report by the middle of July.

A key focus of the Government’s strategy is to protect the most vulnerable workers and to assist those on low and middle-incomes. In this context, 410,000 low paid workers have been removed from the USC charge over successive budgets. The Government is firmly committed to continuing this policy of targeted tax reductions for workers in the next budget.

At the same time, the Government has introduced targeted welfare supports for people returning to work, and particularly for the low-paid. The Government will pay €30 a week to mothers or fathers returning to work from long-term unemployment for each child for the first year, and €15 per week per child for the second year. The scheme was open to applications from 5 January 2015.

For those trapped on rent supplement that cannot go back to work because they will lose their housing support, a new Housing Assistance Payment is being rolled out. The assistance from the State will be based on how much you earn and not by your employment status.

The Department of Social Protection also supports low-income families in work by means of Family Income Supplement (FIS). That Department avails of every opportunity in its engagement with employers and jobseekers to build awareness of the availability of FIS and how this payment may benefit potential employees with children.

I have a deep interest in the Living Wage initiative, and as I have previously stated, I will host a Forum on the Living Wage later this year, where I will invite employers, trade unions, civil society actors, academics and key organisations involved in this voluntary initiative to examine the concept from an Irish perspective.