Minister of State, Ged Nash, who has just proposed a forum to debate the concept of a Living Wage rate of €11.50 per hour, should have a good long look at the title on his business card.

He is Minister for State with responsibility for Business and Employment, and for all its “motherhood and apple pie” connotations, the concept of a Living Wage at almost €2.50 higher than the newly-set Minimum Wage, is not conducive to either business or employment.

It has taken a long time for most governments, even administrations with a significant involvement by Minister Nash’s Labour Party, to realise and acknowledge that businesses, large and small, generate employment and that the State should restrict itself to fostering a supportive environment in which businesses can thrive to the benefit of employers and employees alike.

That’s not to argue that the State should have no direct input into regulation of employment conditions and the protection of employees from exploitation or unfair treatment. And, despite the objection of some employer groups, the recent decision to review and set an appropriate Minimum Wage level, falls within this scope of responsibility.

But the concept of a Living Wage is much more nebulous and subjective, and frankly unnecessary if the Minimum Wage is established with sufficient rigour. 

The Minister has already half acknowledged this but stressing that any commitment to the Living Wage will be voluntary on the part of employers. Ho hum.

In a growing economy, any business sector that can afford to pay higher than the Minimum Wage for relatively unskilled employees, will do so, or else lose them to competitors or to other sectors.

Supporters of the Living Wage concept will point to the recent announcement by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, of planned increases over the next five years in the so-called National Living Wage there.

If a Tory Chancellor can live with this concept surely, with a social democratic partner in government, we must do so too, the argument goes. 

But on closer scrutiny, the British measure envisages the rate rising to £9 an hour by 2020. At current exchange rates (and sterling may weaken over that period against the euro) that equates to just over €12, which our own Minimum Wage may hit within that time period anyway.

Furthermore, the Conservative Government linked the introduction of this measure with a sharp claw-back of a whole raft of tax credits and other subsidies to low-income families, particularly in the Greater London Area, where costs are highest.

Employers are right to fear the concept of a “voluntary” Living Wage as a disproportionate means of tilting the balance from enterprise, risk and competitiveness, in favour of employees, who in a recovering economy can exercise their right to move if they feel they are not being paid appropriately.

And the notion of a “Living Wage Forum” as Minister Nash proposes for late September suggests he is more focussed on maintaining a high public profile  during the countdown to the General Election, than he is on the real scope of his Ministry.