Irish Congress of Trade Unions calls for €1 increase in minimum wage

ICTU makes pre-Budget submission to Government

Owen Reidy, general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU). Picture: Niall Carson/PA 

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has called for a €1 increase in minimum wage to be introduced in January as part of its pre-Budget submission to Government.

The union representative body, which has affiliation with 44 unions, representing 800,000 people, said Budget 2027 must end "gimmicks and giveaways" and focus on average working families enduring hihg inflation and a cost of living crisis.

As part of its submission proposals, ICTU said a €1 increase in the National Minimum Wage would deliver the promised Living Wage for low paid workers. ICTU also proposes reductions in the cost of using essential public services, including delivering a €200 a month cap on childcare. It also sees an end to the payment cap freeze on pay-related jobseeker’s benefit and a second tier of child benefit for low-income families.

Increased investment in public transport and green energy infrastructure, and targeted winter supports are also included in the submission.

"In recent years, time and again the Government has chosen costly short-term giveaways for those who shout the loudest. Workers have seen billions go towards VAT cuts and tax breaks that do little for them and little to secure their future, all while their pay packets have to stretch further and further," said ICTU general secretary Owen Reidy.

"This Budget is a chance for Government to choose a different path. That means a Budget that broadens the tax base, invests in the ordinary PAYE worker and public services, and ensures Government is doing what it can to support workers’ standard of living.

"We need to see double indexation of the tax system to make up for the failure to index it last year, a meaningful increase in the minimum wage, and real action to reduce child poverty. We need investment in the public services and infrastructure that workers rely on every day, from childcare to public transport to energy.

"If the Government is serious about workers' living standards, and about the long-term health of the public finances, it has to end the gimmicks and give-aways, and invest in the workers that make this country run."

The ICTU submission called on Government to broaden the tax base "in line with recommendations from the Commission on Taxation and Welfare. This would include the gradual elimination of Capital Acquisitions Tax business and agriculture reliefs and the introduction of a Site Valuation Tax."