Ireland

Abstract

As readers will be aware, Directive 2022/2041/EU on adequate minimum wages in the European Union ‘sets a dual goal’: ‘improving the adequacy of statutory minimum wages as well as the promotion of collective bargaining’.2 Starting with the former, the process for setting and updating the statutory minimum wage in Ireland is broadly in conformity with the standards of the Directive.3 In 2023, the national minimum hourly rate of pay was EUR 11,30. When adjusted for purchasing power, this was the sixth highest amongst the 21 EU Member States with statutory minimum wages.4 Nevertheless, when viewed as a proportion of median hourly wages, the national minimum wage is estimated to have fallen between 2019 and 2021, from 53.5% to 50.9%.5 As discussed later in this chapter, the Irish government has a target of raising the national minimum wage to 60% of median hourly wages by 2026.6 The Directive is likely to make a contribution insofar as it reinforces the rationale for pursuing this objective. It will also pose questions about some of the detailed aspects of Ireland’s statutory minimum wage system. If the Directive’s impact on the statutory minimum wage seems incremental in nature, its industrial relations elements have the potential to be very significant indeed.