Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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610. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his Department will review the operation of the national minimum wage to ensure that it keeps pace with inflation and cost-of-living pressures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59043/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The Low Pay Commission when making its recommendation for a National Minimum Wage has a statutory obligation to have regard to several factors such as changes in earnings, exchange rates, income distribution and the likely economic effects of any recommendation.

Among its statutory criteria, the Low Pay Commission must consider the effect that any National Minimum Wage recommendation will have on the cost of living in Ireland and as a result is very cognisant of its recommendation in light of current pressures.

The Low Pay Commission considers the effect of the cost of living in a range of ways including:

• Assessing the determinants of inflation and comparing the change in inflation to the change in wage growth to calculate the real change to average wages.
• Comparing the value of the National Minimum Wage with the Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) wage calculated by the Living Wage Technical Group. The MESL wage is calculated from a basket of goods and services deemed necessary for a minimum essential standard of living and accounts for the change in prices of the essential goods from year to year. The current National Minimum Wage of €13.50 represents a bite of nearly 92% of the MESL wage.