Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 April 2026
282. Deputy Sinéad Gibney asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment if his Department will provide the data relating to the number of individuals in the workforce who are paid at a below minimum wage rate; and if he will take action to eliminate the lower than minimum wage rate of pay for workers under 20 years-of-age. [31783/26]
View answerAccording to the Central Statistics Office’s Labour Force Survey, 43,200 employees reported earning less than the National Minimum Wage in 2025, accounting for 1.8 per cent of total employment.
The National Minimum Wage Act prescribes the minimum hourly rate of pay for the majority of employees in Ireland, subject to a small number of exemptions.
Pursuant to section 5 of the National Minimum Wage Act, 2000, exemptions from the statutory minimum wage are in place for statutory apprentices, certain close family members and certain activities undertaken by prisoners.
The National Minimum Wage Act also provides for sub-minimum rates for those aged under 20.
Employees aged 18 and 19 are entitled to a sub-minimum rate of 80% and 90% of the full National Minimum Wage respectively. The sub-minimum rates for employees aged under 18 are set at 70% of the National Minimum Wage.
Since the current system of youth rates is based on a percentage of the full minimum wage; when the minimum wage increases, these sub-minimum youth rates also increase, with young people in receipt of these rates seeing a commensurate increase in their wages.
Since 2020, the National Minimum Wage has increased by 40%, from €10.10 to today’s rate of €14.15 an hour.
In 2025, there was a significant uplift of 6.3%, or €0.80 in the minimum wage, and this year the minimum wage increased by €0.65, an increase of 4.8%. Both of these increases were ahead of inflation and projected wage growth and have brought about substantial and real wage growth for the lowest paid workers in our economy.
Last year, as part of measures designed to bolster business resilience and support competitiveness, the Government made agreed to defer a decision on sub-minimum youth rates until 2029.
This decision should be considered in the context of the significant increases in the minimum wage and wider improvements in statutory employment measures.
The Government will continue to closely monitor the use of subminimum youth rates to ensure they do not undermine fair pay or progression for young workers, while also safeguarding employment opportunities as part of the scheduled review in 2029.
