The Labour Party is committed to establishing a Low Pay Commission according to new Ministerfor State, Ged Nash. In his first interview since his appointment as Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Ged, told SIPTU's Liberty newspaper: “I will have responsibility in my role for creating the Low Pay Commission framework. At the moment we are scoping out what that framework would look like, how it would be structured. I’m looking at the moment to analogous commissions across the OECD to see if we can mimic some of the best elements of the ones that might be culturally appropriate to Ireland.” The Minister said he found the “UK model a very interesting one” and credited it with “significant buy in from employers”. “I think the establishment of a Low Pay Commission on a statutory framework would be one of the most progressive things that this country has done in a long period of time. We would not just be looking at the national minimum wage but related matters as well,” he added. In his initial view, the Minister said he would expect the Commission “to look at different sectors of the economy on a kind of module basis, perhaps every four months” and also “respond to emerging problems in the economy.” The Minister said he intended to bring the idea of a Low Pay Commission“on the road.” “I want to talk to working people and business people to tell them they have nothing to fear from the provision of an evidence based approach to setting the national wage and looking at associated matters.” He added that such a framework would be beneficial for business in that it will provide “certainty in terms of their budgetary planning”.
Labour committed to establishing Low Pay Commission
