I hope the House will join me in wishing all working people across the country a happy May Day. However, delaying the living wage is no way to mark International Workers' Day. It has been 25 years since the minimum wage was introduced and ten years since the Low Pay Commission, which I established, made its first annual recommendation on an appropriate rate for the national minimum wage. This is a really important legacy to protect the interests of low-paid people. The Minister is now publicly instructing the Low Pay Commission, a statutory independent expert body which supposed to be independent of Government, to dump living wage pledge on the pretence of protecting competitiveness. Will the Minister allow the Low Pay Commission to do its job?

Sentiment score: 0.02

Speaking earlier on the radio, the Minister said he makes decisions based on evidence. There is no evidence anywhere in the world to suggest that modest incremental increases to rates of national minimum wages impact employment rates or competitiveness. The Minister talks a lot about competitiveness but by delaying the introduction of the living wage, he is owning up to the problems the Government has created. If it wanted to deal with competitiveness, it would deal with the cost of energy, deal with renewables and deal with the genuine cost of doing business in Ireland which has nothing to do with the rate of the national minimum wage. Deputy Conway-Walsh was absolutely right. These jobs are not to be found in the globally traded international sector; they are in the locally traded sectors - those areas that are not in the front line of Trump's potential tariffs. If the Government wants to address competitiveness, it should look at energy, housing and infrastructure, and not the national minimum wage. As the Minister will know, and I am sure this was the case, section 6 of the 2015 minimum wage Act, which allowed for the Low Pay Commission to be formed, makes it very clear that no decision should be taken that would impact employment rates and competitiveness.

Sentiment score: 0.01

The Minister also failed to understand and accept that there has always been churn in the retail and hospitality sectors. There were enormous net job gains in the retail and hospitality sectors in recent years, sectors which, quite rightly, were protected during the pandemic but which have continued to be protected with significant subsidies that have no conditions whatsoever attached to them in terms of job quality, retention or pay. What the Minister is doing in respect of the living wage is virtue signalling. That is it. It has no basis whatsoever in evidence. This will affect the lowest paid people in our society. The reality is that decent pay boosts productivity and increases retention for SMEs. We know the lower paid have a propensity to spend more of their income in the local community, ensuring that demand continues even if the local economy is in some difficulty. The Minister needs to review his position on the living wage and other employment rights he is attempting to decimate on the sham altar of competitiveness. The essence of social democracy is having decent jobs, a decent economy and good, functioning businesses that offer decent working conditions to people. Unfortunately, the Minister is showing that he is picking sides, and this is unnecessary.

Sentiment score: 0.04