The National Minimum Wage Act, 2000, came into force from 1 April 2000 and delivered on the Government's commitment in the programme for Government to introduce a national minimum hourly wage. During the passage of the National Minimum Wage Bill 2000, through this House, the Tánaiste gave a commitment to establish a tripartite monitoring group. The group was established in June and comprises representatives of ICTU, IBEC and my Department. The remit of the group is to monitor and assess the implementation of the Act and report its findings and any recommendations to the Tánaiste. The group has met twice since June, 2000.
The group will be assisted in its work by the results of a follow-up survey, to be undertaken in the coming weeks, of the firm survey carried out by the ESRI in late 1998 and early 1999. The results of the initial firm survey formed part of the ESRI study of the likely impact of the introduction of the national minimum wage.
The legislation is enforced in the workplace by the labour inspectorate of my Department. There are 17 inspectors in the inspectorate, seven of whom were appointed last April by way of additional resources – authorised by Government decision of December 1999 – to assist in national minimum wage enforcement work. All 17 inspectors, as part of their general employment rights legislation enforcement work, check on the compliance of employers with their responsibilities under the National Minimum Wage Act.
From the commencement date of the Act to 17 November 2000 a total of 3,097 compliance inspections have been carried out by the inspectorate. Any infringements found arising from the inspections have been rectified through the intervention of the visiting inspectors and, to date, the need for legal prosecution has not arisen.