Yesterday, the Social Democrats put forward a real solution to increase the finance available to build affordable homes. I hope the Taoiseach will look at that seriously. Not content with creating a new €430,000 post for the housing tsar, this Government now wants to increase pay for senior executives in semi-State organisations. Yesterday, the Minister, Deputy Chambers, announced plans to change rules, which will see salaries soar. The heads of 30 semi-State bodies, from Horse Racing Ireland to RTÉ, are now potentially in line for massive increases. This is despite the fact that these CEOs received a combined €75 million in pay and perks over ten years, according to Village magazine.

Strangely, even though I carefully studied the Minister's statement yesterday, I did not see any reference to economic headwinds, tariffs or global volatility. When it comes to gold-plated salaries for those at the top, it seems these concerns are not worth mentioning. Compare that with how people on low pay are treated and the Government's shameful decision to postpone the introduction of a living wage. Improvement in sick leave for ordinary workers has also been put on the chopping block. In a triple whammy, plans to introduce pension auto-enrolment have also been kicked down the road yet again.

While all across the county people are struggling to make ends meet, keep their homes heated, rent paid and bills from piling up, this Government has mounted a despicable attack on low-paid workers. People should be able to live a full and dignified life and not just scrape by day to day. How can someone on the minimum wage afford housing costs that are more than double the EU average? How can they afford bills that have increased by 80% since Russia invaded Ukraine? How are they supposed to put food on the table when prices for goods and services are 42% higher than in other European countries? The cost of living is skyrocketing and the Government expects people to get by on €13.50 an hour. Why does this Government believe those at the top deserve bumper salary increases while low-paid workers are thrown under the bus? How can the Government justify this to low-paid workers struggling to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table?

Over the past three to four years, significant improvements were made to the minimum wage, workers' rights and sick leave pay. In 2022, for the first time, a statutory right was given to employer paid sick leave in the sick leave Act. The Deputy made the exaggerated comment that we are engaging in despicable action against workers. Sick leave has gone from three to five days. That was introduced in January 2024. The minimum wage has been increasing significantly over the past number of years as a result of Government decisions. It will continue to increase. To net out two issues, we decided to delay going from five to seven days and on the minimum wage, there is a delay in respect of matching the living wage. It will be a matter for the Low Pay Commission to determine the increase. Those are the only two issues. The Deputy created a narrative around them that somehow there is an enormous undermining of workers' rights about to take place, which is not true.

The Deputy mentioned auto-enrolment.

Is he honestly saying that delaying auto-enrolment from September to January is a trampling of someone's rights? We spent years putting it together. The two main parties in government spent the past three to four years building up what was a very substantive programme in terms of getting auto-enrolment ready.

In the context of the logistics involved, the payroll providers and so on, the view was that it should start with the tax year in January as opposed to in September. That is all. Let us not pretend that this is some massive undermining of workers' rights or anything like that. I am a complete convert to the idea of auto-enrolment. Sorry, I am not a convert; I am a believer. I passionately believe in it, and 800,000 workers will benefit from it. We are going full steam ahead with it as a government. Probably the most significant thing we will do for workers in this generation is auto-enrolment. It has been talked about for 30-odd years, and we are going to do it.

The Deputy understands the context as well because he and his party fought the recent general election. Members on that side came into the House talking about the retail industry, which could not deal with the cumulative costs. Those involved blamed the Government. They had a point, because we did increase costs through improving rights for workers and other things. Many retail and many hospitality SMEs said that the cumulative impact of all of that was damaging both employment and their capacity to continue. We had people in this House talking about the closure of restaurants, etc.

It is always about striking a balance in terms of how fast we go with progressive improvements. We did bring in the pay-related jobseeker's benefit scheme, which is a significant improvement on anything that we had for the past two or three decades. That is a significant additional right for workers and is well deserved.

A living wage is not just good for low-paid workers; it is also good for the local economy. Money that is put in the pocket of workers gets spent in the local economy and boosts local businesses and jobs. There is a very strong economic case for it. Can the Taoiseach not see that it is an absolute kick in the teeth for people on low pay to hear about Government proposals to increase pay for those at the top while excuses relating to tariffs, global headwinds and economic conditions are cited when it comes to delaying promises for low-paid workers in respect of the living wage? Can he not see that this puts people under huge pressure to see that double standard in terms of the talk the Government comes out with? Will the Government reconsider its position-----

On what?

-----on the living wage? Will it bring forward the living wage, as it has promised? Why can the Government do it for top-paid workers but not for people on low pay?

I am sorry but we have significantly increased the minimum wage. We have significantly increased it over the past number of years, and it will continue to increase. The Deputy talks about the living wage. The Government does not pay the living wage. He does not pay the living wage. Employers pay the living wage. Shops pay the living wage. The Deputy's local Centra pays the living wage, which is what he is saying. During an election campaign, the Deputy will go into the local Centra, talk to the person there and say "Oh yeah, you're dead right. I'll talk to the Government about that". That is what everyone in the Opposition did in the recent election. They said costs were too high and that we must do something for small businesses and for hospitality. This is an attempt to try to balance how fast and how rapidly we make progress. That is it. The Deputy should not try to conflate this with some major agenda that is anti-worker because that is not what this is about, in any shape or form. We are moving ahead with auto-enrolment. The pay-related scheme is a very significant additional benefit that we can improve upon on in time. The State will take on a significant proportion of that, which is important.

In terms of the semi-State sector, rather than the ad hoc approach which has gone on for the past ten or 11 years, it is important to create a framework in terms of how senior executives in that sector are paid.