Social Protection Minister Joan Burton has said the time is now right for an increase in wages and has warned against the danger of wage stagnation during Ireland’s economic recovery.

Burton told a Labour Party conference in Kerry that economic recovery “must come from the middle out, not from the top down” as it is essential that people have money to spend if a recovery is to take place.

Burton said: “A recovery that didn’t improve the living standards of ordinary families would be no recovery at all and that is why I have argued strongly for a living wage and for legislation to guarantee collective bargaining.

“We can now glimpse what recovery will look like, but that recovery must come from the middle out, not from the top down.”