ICTU: 'Fallacy' to suggest minimum wage rise will lead to more business closures

Business groups were invited to attend the Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment hearing but did not for a 'number of reasons'

Laura Bambrick, social policy officer with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, said that there was “no evidence” that pay increases to a small percentage of the working population — those on minimum wage — would fuel “wage-spiral inflation”.

Increasing the minimum wage by 80c an hour in the new year won’t lead to a “tsunami” of business closures due to rising costs and such a suggestion is a “fallacy”, an Oireachtas Committee has heard.

The Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment heard on Wednesday from representatives from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) as part of its meetings on the cost of living, the minimum wage and the Low Pay Commission.