The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Brendan Carr, launched the Dublin City Council Living Wage Initiative outside the Mansion House in Dublin this morning. 

The Dublin Living Wage Plaque initiative seeks to highlight those employers who are paying their staff a Living Wage of €11.50 per hour. It will do this by granting them permission to display a Dublin Living Wage Plaque at the entrance to their premises.

A committee to be appointed by Dublin City Council will consider applications by businesses for inclusion in the Dublin Living Wage Initiative. Local authorities in several cities across the globe implement policies to promote the payment of the local Living Wage. Cities with such policies include Belfast, London and Dublin’s Sister City of San Jose in California. 
 
Speaking today, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Brendan Carr said, "The growing crisis of low pay for workers in Dublin must be faced up to. In this city there are residents in full time employment whose overall earnings are so insufficient that their families have to avail of emergency accommodation. This is a situation which is putting a severe strain on families, the State and local authority services."

He added, "I have made clear for sometime my commitment to this initiative and have been dismayed by the response of some business representative organisations. An employee receiving a Living Wage is something that should be welcomed by the business community as it provides people with a minimum socially acceptable standard of living, which allows them to play an active role within the local economy."

Source: www.businessworld.ie