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Minister Ged Nash TD Minister for Business & Employment
MAKING WORK PAY ■ Work should always pay. This is central to my agenda as Minister for Business and Employment. I am making good progress to ensure that the jobs this Government has helped create and sustain are decent jobs with decent pay. ■ I have set up the Low Pay Commission, which will be responsible for advising the Government on the appropriate rate of the National Minimum Wage. The Commissioners have begun their important work and I expect them to report back to me during the summer with a new rate for the National Minimum Wage. While I do not want to pre-empt their work, I believe that if the economic and labour market circumstances allow, we should see an increase in the minimum wage before the end of the year. ■ The issue of zero hour and low hour contracts is another area I am tackling. I have commissioned a study into the prevalence of such precarious work contracts and importantly their impact on workers. It should be concluded within a few months. If this study underlines the need for policy changes to address any negative impacts of such work contracts, then I will recommend we make such changes as soon as possible. ■ The debate on the “Living Wage” is also one I am continuing to drive. We have made immense progress on fixing the economy. Now, as our focus shifts towards repairing the social fabric of society, we should discuss openly the sort of society we want for ourselves and our children. The idea of a wage which makes possible a minimum acceptable standard of living and how it might be supported and adopted by civil society, employers and trade unions will be progressed in 2015. I will be working with Party colleagues, trade unions, civil society organisations and progressive employers to advance this agenda in the coming weeks and months.
DIGNITY OF WORK ■ I want Ireland to be a fair place to work and live. There is no better way for a family to overcome poverty or deprivation than through a job. 100,000 more people are at work this year, compared to last and that is a massive achievement. But, it is also important that we ensure the jobs we are creating are decent jobs with a decent level of pay and workers’ rights are improved, implemented and upheld. ■ In order to ensure that workers are given further protections in disputes and are enabled to improve their pay and terms & conditions within a constitutionally robust legal framework, I am progressing key legislation on collective bargaining. In situations where there is no collective bargaining, the new laws will ensure workers can have confidence that they have an effective system that protects and promotes their rights. The Legislation will ensure they can advance claims and have these determined based on comparisons with similar companies – and not be victimised for doing so. ■ I am restoring the Registered Employment Agreement model, by way of legislation. This follows the Supreme Court ruling which struck down REAs. The new laws will give binding status to agreements reached at workplace level and will benefit workers and employers alike who voluntarily enter into such agreements. ■ In cases where there are disputes over payments relating to commercial construction contracts, I am introducing a statutory dispute resolution mechanism. A panel of adjudicators are being recruited to oversee the resolution of commercial disputes about payments in the construction industry. ■ My Department is also radically overhauling the State’s industrial relations mechanisms with the replacement of five workplace relations bodies with two. The Workplace Relations Commission will deal with industrial relations complaints in the first instance and the Labour Court will deal with appeals. The new system will provide a world class service for employers and employees.
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SUPPORTING JOB CREATION AND GROWTH ■ Jobs are our main priority. Supporting the creation of new jobs and creating the right environment to encourage our indigenous companies to grow and multi-nationals to choose Ireland as their base are at the core of my portfolio. We have achieved a huge amount in this regard, with unemployment down by more than a third since 2012. But, there are still too many of our people without work. ■ Small and medium sized enterprises are the lifeblood of our economy and employ 70% of the private sector workforce. My role is to support SMEs and try to cut the administrative burden and costs of doing business for them – to allow them to grow and create more quality jobs. I chair the Advisory Group on Small Business and our work feeds into the Action Plan for Jobs (APJ). ■ As the economy continues its recovery, businesses are finally moving away from access to finance for survival to “finance for growth”. In my Department, we are ensuring that there are a range of finance options for SMEs available, such as Microfinance Ireland, the Credit Guarantee Scheme and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland to ensure businesses who want to grow, expand and create new jobs have the finance to do so. ■ This year, we will hold the “Start-Up Gathering” as part of the APJ 2015, a week of events to promote and encourage start-ups and entrepreneurship. We will target five cities in five days on the island of Ireland to showcase the country as a base for high potential international start-up and to encourage new indigenous start-ups in growth industries with the ultimate goal of creating jobs and increasing exports. ■ The wholesale and retail sectors are the biggest employers in the economy with approximately 270,000 people employed. However, this was also one of the sectors hardest hit by the downturn, with an estimated 50,000 jobs lost. I am supporting the recovery of the retail sector through chairing the Retail Consultation Forum. This body meets quarterly to identify practical measures to support this sector. ■ As part of this, I have requested a review of the licensing regime for small business to ensure that the current licenses required are relevant. If we find they are not, I will act to remove them. ■ Conscious of the vital role the retail sector plays in every town and village in Ireland, I am also ensuring that retail is part of the development of Regional Enterprise strategies currently being drawn up by my Department. ■ 2015 has been designated as the year of Irish Design. ID2015 has a very specific focus on creating 1800 jobs over the next three years, encouraging 200 new design start-ups and substantially increasing exports. I will be promoting and supporting the best of Irish Design through events at home and overseas.
GED NASH TD
Minister for Business & Employment
Constituency Office: Connolly Hall, Palace Street, Drogheda, Co Louth Phone: 041 9810811 Dept of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, 23 Kildare St, Dublin 2 Phone: 01 631 2241 Email: gerald.nash@oir.ie