Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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151. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the cost of the proposal in the programme for Government that employers' pay related social insurance will be cut in the event of the minimum wage rising for low income workers. [21577/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for Government commitment to which the Deputy refers, relates to cutting Employers’ PRSI for low-income workers to mitigate the cost of minimum wage increases, in order to protect jobs.

Currently employers pay PRSI at the rate of 8.5% where weekly earnings are between €38 and €376. Once weekly earnings exceed €376, the rate of employer PRSI is 10.75%. The upper threshold for the 8.5% rate of employer PRSI was increased from €356 to €376 from 1 January 2016, to take account of the increase in the minimum hourly wage. The full year cost of this measure is €6.7 million.

The increase in the upper threshold to €376 ensures that employers, with employees earning the minimum wage and working a 39-hour week, continue to attract the lower 8.5% rate of employer PRSI, upon implementation of the new minimum hourly wage.

Further change, if any, to the threshold for charging the lower 8.5% employer PRSI rate to meet the Programme for Government commitment, is dependent on the level of increase in the minimum wage. In the absence of this information it is not possible to provide a cost for this measure.