Mayo Minister getting down to business and what next for fast fashion

Today, after a 125-day wait, Mayo TD Alan Dillon will officially be given legal powers in his role as Minister for State for Small Business and Retail and Circular Economy.

It’s a wide brief covering everything from the Deposit Return Scheme to pension auto-enrolment to the number of sick days employees are entitled to.

One of his first priorities is setting up a small business unit in the Department of Business.

Minister Dillon says small businesses are ‘the backbone of our economy’. More than two out of every three workers in Ireland is employed by a small or medium sized business, so it is a vital sector for the Irish economy.

Reading between the lines, this government will have a different emphasis than its immediate predecessor when it comes to the cost of business and worker’s rights.

The decision to delay the full implementation of the National Living Wage by three years is an example of this. This is against a backdrop where under the last government, the minimum wage has increased by 29 percent since January 2022.

In explaining the decision the Minister told The Mayo News: “We have looked at a more long term incremental change to how we move to the living wage, which now has been pushed out to 2029 and that is to support our vulnerable businesses within food, hospitality and retail. This government is very conscious that we need to support businesses who don't have that bandwidth to pass on increased wages like other larger companies within that specific sector.”

Striking a balance

In expressing the need to “strike the balance and not implement policy that’s counterproductive and may impact businesses and also the livelihoods of its workers”, the Minister continues that “it's only responsible for us within government to make the appropriate assessments and decisions that are research based and that are based on evidence from the industries and the sectors they themselves.”

Another example of the change in emphasis to is the delay in the start-date of the pension auto-enrolment scheme. It had been due to start at the end of September this year but will now not begin until the start of 2026.

Official reasons for the delay are the alignment of the new system with the standard tax year, additional time for payroll providers, especially smaller providers, to ready their systems for the launch and additional lead-in time for employers, particularly small and micro businesses, to ensure they can be compliant with the legislation from the start.

However, similar to the delay in implementing a national living wage, the impact is a few months reprieve before an additional cost will come into place for businesses.

Both these policies show the dilemma of balancing workers rights and managing increased costs for businesses. The idiom that one man’s meat is another man’s poison comes to mind when looking at this balancing act.

Minister Dillon is not shy in praising the policies brought forward by the last government in this area: “We have never seen as many protections for workers implemented in the last term of government. We now have zero hour contracts, protections around tips and gratuities, around parental leave, and the right to request remote working and also auto enrolment. So a huge amount of work has been done by the last government to protect workers, and that is only right, because we do need to have fair wages and fair protections for our for workers who propel our economy.”

However, the cost of these protections and new leave entitlements have increased the cost of labour for businesses.

Cost pressures

The Minister highlights the sectors of hospitality, retail and food services as “really feeling the pinch in relation to cost pressures, and we don't want a situation where we are losing hundreds and thousands of jobs without having an SME test in relation to the burden that that will place on businesses. And we're acutely aware from listening to businesses in the here and now that they are at a tipping point.”

The circular economy is the other brief in Minister Dillon’s portfolio. One notable success in this area is the Deposit Return scheme, which he has hailed as “a huge success in changing consumer behaviour and habits around the return and recycling of plastic bottles.”

Fast fashion remains the elephant in the room for the circular economy. The Minister is engaging with textile producers and retailers “to try and ensure that the rate of fast fashion is curbed. We see clothing and fast fashion having huge environmental impacts on our environment and Ireland isn't immune to that.”

Last month, Minister Dillon made headlines when he said the Government ‘should consider’ a proposed €2 levy on small packages from outside the European Union. Speaking to The Mayo News, he said there is ‘a bit of journey that needs to be had’ before such a levy could come into place. Issues such as how it would be collected, how it would affect low income families and the economic impact would need to be addressed before it was introduced.

However, the Minister will be “putting forward proposals on this in the coming months about funding a separate waste management stream to avoid clothing going to landfill or to waste incineration. What we want to do is ensure that the circular elements are introduced, such as reuse, repair and recycling.”

A circular economy strategy is currently being drawn up and another area being looked at is old mattresses. Solutions include creating a waste management system for mattresses or finding an alternative use for them and looking at whether the materials can be repurposed.

When asked about immigration policy, Minister Dillon says significant changes have been made and “now we have much quicker decision making. We have tripled the number of resources within our assessment process, and we have strengthened our border control. These measures have certainly made an impact in terms of the numbers coming into this country.”

He also favours a more state-led model: “The Thornton Hall site and many other sites across the country are currently being worked upon and I would hope that that model in itself would be more sustainable in the future.”

Sporting role

While his immediate focus is on his roles as TD for Mayo and Minister of State, the decorated former player, who represented Mayo in nine All-Ireland finals across all levels, hopes to get involved in coaching underage teams at some stage.

“There's nothing more empowering than giving back knowledge and time that was given to me, and I was fortunate enough to have some of the best coaches to be given that guidance and that mentoring. And I think it's incumbent on all former players to kind of work with the next generation. I’m delighted to see some of my former teammates doing just that—David Heaney, Peadar Gardiner, Keith Higgins, Ger Cafferkey, and Colm Boyle are all contributing to the development squads. I'm no different, and I certainly would feel that I'd have something to add when the opportunity arises, something to add to the next generation of footballers who have aspirations to play at at the highest level."