Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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351. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans to address the sub-minima rates of the minimum wage, in view of the Low Pay Commission report in October 2016 and the ESRI report published in January 2017; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18499/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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In October 2016 the Low Pay Commission submitted its report on the sub-minima rates of the National Minimum Wage Act 2000, which included a study by the ESRI on the usage of sub-minima rates both in Ireland and internationally. The Commission found that sub-minima rates of a similar nature are in use in a number of OECD countries.  It concluded that incidence of usage of the sub-minima rates in Ireland is extremely low, with available evidence suggesting that just 0.1% of employees are currently in receipt of the youth rates and between 0.2 and 0.3% are in receipt of the trainee rates. Their report also indicated that there is no evidence of significant abuse when it comes to the application of sub-minima rates.

Given that the remit of the Low Pay Commission is to make its recommendations using an evidence-based approach, the Commission had agreed with the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in early 2016 the inclusion, on a pilot basis, of a specific question on the national minimum wage, and the use of sub-minima rates, in the CSO’s Quarterly National Household Survey series.  The Commission indicated in its 2016 report that it did not consider it appropriate to make recommendations on the appropriateness of the current sub-minima rates at that stage, but would await the availability of the up-to-date data on usage of the rates from the CSO before making any recommendation.  

I understand that the results from the pilot question for 2016 are currently being verified by the CSO, and I understand that the Low Pay Commission intends to submit its recommendations in a supplementary report, on receipt of the verified data from the CSO.  The question of whether a change in the current system might be warranted or desirable will be considered further in light of the Commission’s recommendations.