Written answers

Thursday, 9 July 2015

Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

National Minimum Wage

Photo of Paul MurphyPaul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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131. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on increasing the minimum wage to bring it at least in line with the living wage of €11.50; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28144/15]

Photo of Ruth CoppingerRuth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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133. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation given the study by the living wage technical group identifying €11.50 to be a living wage, the steps he will take to increase the minimum wage from the current rate which is below this level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28159/15]

Photo of Gerald NashGerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 131 and 133 together.

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. The Living Wage concept draws its strength from the fact that it is a grassroots civil society campaign. It has been successful in the UK, with around 1,500 separate employers across the country having endorsed the approach.

In this context, I intend to hold a Living Wage forum in the Autumn, the first of its kind, to which civil society organisations, trade unions and, crucially, employers will be invited to discuss the concept of a Living Wage in Ireland and how it can be applied here.

I fully support the concept of a Living Wage. However, I would differentiate the application of a mandatory National Minimum Wage and a societal movement that would see employers volunteer and be proud to pay what might be considered to be a Living Wage.

The National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Bill 2015 is expected to be enacted shortly. The Bill provides for the establishment of the Low Pay Commission whose main function will be, on an annual basis, to examine and make recommendations 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. The Commission was established on an interim basis in February 2015 and I expect to receive its first recommendation on the minimum wage following the enactment of the legislation.

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