Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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513. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the annual expenditure on the Low Pay Commission; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14734/19]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Low Pay Commission was established on 26 February 2015 through the National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Act 2015.  Its principal function is, once each year, to examine the national minimum hourly rate of pay and to make a recommendation to the Minister respecting the rate, and ensuring that all decisions are evidence-based, fair and sustainable, and do not create significant adverse consequences for employment or competitiveness.

I published the first three-year report of the Commission on 26 March.  It provides a breakdown of the Commission's expenditure since its establishment, which is set out in the table.

The three-year report from the Low Pay Commission demonstrates the work that has been done by the Commission since it was established in 2015.  Alongside its core task of making recommendations each year to Government on the appropriate rate for the National Minimum Wage, the Commission has examined and reported on matters as diverse as the sub-minimum rates of the National Minimum Wage, the preponderance of women on the National Minimum Wage, and the allowances provided for Board and Lodgings under the National Minimum Wage.

*Salaries refer to the Secretariat of the LPC

**This includes payments during the Commission’s interim period of operations from February 2015.  The first full year of operation was 2016.