Search

16 Dec 2025

Derry's St Columb's Hall Trust celebrates commitment to real living wage

St Columb’s Hall employees will receive a minimum hourly wage of £12.60, higher than the government minimum for over 21s, which currently stands at £12.21 per hour

St Columb’s Hall: The main venue for Feis Dhoire Cholmcille in 2024 will be St Columb’s Hall. Picture courtesy of St Columb’s Hall Trust.

St Columb’s Hall

Reporter:

Staff Reporter

03 Apr 2025 3:30 PM

Email:

news@derrynow.com

The charitable organisation spearheading the renovation of St Columb’s Hall in Derry, St Columb’s Hall Trust, has today announced their accreditation as a real living wage employer.
Their Living Wage commitment will see everyone working at St Columb’s Hall receive a minimum hourly wage of £12.60, higher than the government minimum for over 21s, which currently stands at £12.21 per hour.
St Columb’s Hall Trust is based in Northern Ireland, where 20.5% of jobs pay less than the real Living Wage – around 190,000 jobs. Despite this, St Columb’s Hall Trust has committed to pay the real Living Wage and deliver a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work.
The real Living Wage is the only rate calculated according to the costs of living. It provides a voluntary benchmark for employers that wish to ensure their staff earn a wage they can live on, not just the government minimum. Since 2011 the Living Wage movement has delivered a pay rise to nearly half a million people and put £3.5 billion extra into the pockets of low paid workers.
Conal McFeely, Chairperson of St Columb’s Hall Trust said: “We are committed to building a future for our communities based on fairness, equality and opportunity. We can only deliver on that promise if we recognise that workers must get paid fairly and at a rate that they can live on. St Columb’s Hall Trust are delighted to be able to join the growing movement that acknowledges the need to pay a real living wage for our workers.”
Mary McManus, Regional Manager, Living Wage NI said: “We’re delighted that St Columb’s Hall Trust has joined the movement of over 15,000 responsible employers across the UK who voluntarily commit to go further than the government minimum to make sure all their staff earn enough to live on.
"They join thousands of small businesses and many household names such as Burberry, Barclays, Everton Football Club. Over 145 of those businesses are based in Northern Ireland and include Ulster University, The NI Executive, Ards and North Down Council, Invest NI as well as mostly small businesses that range from a hairdresser to a bar. These businesses recognise that paying the real Living Wage is the mark of a responsible employer and they, like St Columb’s Hall Trust, believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay."
For more information on how to become an accredited real Living Wage employer, visit https://www.adviceni.net/campaigns-projects/living-wage-ni

To continue reading this article,
please subscribe and support local journalism!

Subscribing will allow you access to all of our premium content and archived articles.

Subscribe

To continue reading this article for FREE,
please kindly register and/or log in.

Registration is absolutely 100% FREE and will help us personalise your experience on our sites. You can also sign up to our carefully curated newsletter(s) to keep up to date with your latest local news!

Register / Login

Most Popular

Sponsored Content

Multimedia

We've got Donegal Covered...

Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie

Buy a paper

Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.

Buy Now
Get the news

Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.

Register Now
Iconic Media is Ireland's largest independently owned regional newspaper and media group, with an unrivalled audience in print, online and mobile. We have 19 regional newspapers and 21 digital sites.

Iconic Digital Titles

  • Carlow Live
  • Clare Live
  • Derry Now
  • Donegal Live
  • Éire Bheo
  • Inish Live
  • Ireland Live
  • Kildare Live
  • Kildare Now
  • Kilkenny Live
  • Laois Live
  • Leitrim Live
  • Letterkenny Live
  • Limerick Live
  • Longford Live
  • Louth Live
  • Mayo Live
  • Nenagh Live
  • Offaly Live
  • Tipperary Live
  • Waterford Live

    • Iconic Print Titles

  • Clonmel Nationalist
  • County Derry Post
  • Derry News
  • Donegal Democrat
  • Donegal Post
  • Dundalk Democrat
  • Homes in Donegal
  • Inish Times
  • Kilkenny People
  • Leinster Express
  • Leinster Leader
  • Leitrim Observer
  • Letterkenny Live
  • Limerick Leader
  • Longford Leader
  • Mayo News
  • Midland Tribune
  • Tipperary Star
  • Tullamore Tribune

    • This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.

    © 2025 Iconic Media