Mr. Adrian Cummins:

The last two speakers covered a lot but I want to make two points. With regard to the restaurant sector, the vast majority of employees in the industry are probably in their first job. They are students who are looking for a job to pay their way through college and so are waiters or waitresses. When we look at benchmark Irish employees in our sector against other European norms, Ireland has the second highest wage rate in the European restaurant industry. This is a proven fact. At the end of the day, these are businesses that must make a profit to keep their doors open. If a restaurant does not make a profit the doors must close. Across much of rural Ireland we can see many businesses closed and those that are still open are finding it tough to keep their doors open. In my submission to the committee I have explained how the margins in our sector are small at between 2% and 5%. This is a fact and anyone in the business will tell one that. If there are employers who are not compliant - and a company that is directly involved in our area has been named - then employees should go to the National Employment Rights Authority, NERA, which is the avenue to go to if the employee has a problem with an employer. That is what we would say to any employee who wants to find out more information, which is their right.