A Contentious Consensus : The Establishment of the National Minimum Wage in Ireland

In April 2000, a statutory National Minimum Wage was introduced in Ireland, at around 55% of the average industrial wage. This development is notable for a number of reasons: first, the statutory minimum wage seems to contradict the voluntarist tradition of Irish industrial relations where the regulation of wages and working conditions were primarily a matter for employers and trade unions.Although some employers and neo-classical economists were against the introduction of a statutory minimum wage, saying this would only lead to higher unemployment (Walsh 2004: 18), a minimum wage was introduced. How can this development be explained?