Key to achieving a ‘living wage’ is reducing high living costs

Jim Power (Irish Examiner, July 24) describes the Low Pay Commission’s proposal to increase the national minimum wage by 50 cents per hour as “not a good idea”, given that many retail and hospitality businesses outside Dublin are still struggling.

Fortunately, employers can apply for a temporary exemption from the increase, under the ‘inability to pay’ provisions.

This is a basic provision, which employers have used in the past, in other parts of our wage-setting mechanisms.