Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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55. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of persons who are currently employed for less than the living wage; and his plans to remedy this. [53845/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for Government contains the commitment to “progress to a living wage over the lifetime of the Government”. There is currently no statutory living wage in Ireland.

In January 2021, I requested the Low Pay Commission to report on how best the Government could progress to a living wage. Following commissioned research from Maynooth University and engagement with unions and representative groups, the Commission submitted its Living Wage Report in March of this year which included 18 recommendations.

In their recommendations, the Low Pay Commission proposed adopting a fixed threshold approach for the calculation of a living wage, as opposed to a Minimum Essential Standard of Living or “basket of goods” approach, and setting the fixed threshold at 60% of the median wage in the economy. Based on these recommendations, in June of this year, I outlined a proposal to introduce a living wage for all employees. A public consultation was then launched seeking submissions from the public on the Low Pay Commission’s recommendations and on a ‘strawman proposal’ which provided an illustrative example of how a living wage might be phased in over a 4-year timeframe.

In September, the Government agreed to accept the Low Pay Commission’s recommendation to increase the National Minimum Wage by 80 cent to €11.30 from the 1st of January 2023. At least 164,000 people, and possibly more are estimated to be in line for this increase, with many others on slightly higher pay levels also getting a knock-on increase.

That works out at an extra €30 per week, around €120 a month or €1,664 a year if you’re working full-time.

The new National Minimum Wage of €11.30 is in line with the living wage strawman proposal. As such, next year can be considered the first year of a proposed four-year path towards reaching the living wage of 60% of the median wage.

I will shortly bring to Government a proposal on the adoption of a living wage for all employees, over a specified number of years.