Dr. Deirdre Curran:

I am an academic at NUI Galway and obsessed with data. When the Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty, said on national radio that employers in the hospitality sector, in the main, treated their staff the way one would like members of one's family to be treated, it was very frustrating as she had no evidence to support that statement. Until recently we have had very little evidence to refute it. I have some sympathy for the Low Pay Commission because, as has been mentioned, while it did consult union representatives, the sector is largely non-unionised. Therefore, how does one get at the people most affected? The screamingly silent voice in the Low Pay Commission's report is that of the workers.

I have embarked on a path to try to address the lack of empirical independent evidence on working conditions in the hospitality sector. It is part of a research agenda that is ongoing and it is revealing shocking levels of ill-treatment and the abuse of workers' rights. I have said repeatedly that the non-payment of tips is only the tip of the iceberg. My research addresses the issue of tips, but beyond it there is a culture of ill-treatment within the hospitality sector. While we had some anecdotal evidence - most people on the street had an awareness of it - we had no solid evidence.

From my research undertaken recently, 76% of respondents had experienced verbal abuse, either sometimes or often; 64% had experienced psychological abuse, either sometimes or often; while 15% had experienced physical abuse, either sometimes or often. That is a low number, but what number would anyone care to see for the number of people experiencing physical abuse, either sometimes or often? When asked when they were abused and who was the likely perpetrator, the responses were overwhelmingly that it was by someone in a position of power such as a chef, an owner or a manager. Respondents were asked to whom did they report the abuse and overwhelmingly the answer was "nobody". Those who had reported it were asked what was the outcome. Only 15% said action had been taken to address it.

I am referring to survey data. The survey was comprehensive and included 38 questions.

Sexual harassment is prevalent. Some 55% of 257 respondents had witnessed or experienced harassment. The most common forms of harassment were sexual, based on age or race. Some 63% had witnessed or experienced bullying. Some 48% said they have no access whatsoever to a voice in the workplace. Clearly, they are crying out for voice.

In the final question in the survey respondents were asked to leave their details if they were willing to speak to the researcher. I had hoped for ten or 15 to go into more depth but 100 left their details. That sent me into a panic as I had no resources or funding in carrying out the research, but I wanted to give a voice to anyone who wanted to have one. I have offered people the opportunity to send me an audio file in responding to three questions: what do they like about working in the hospitality sector? What do they not like about it? Would they like to tell me about an incident in which they felt they had been unfairly or badly treated and what happened? What action did they take? What was the outcome and how did it make them feel? If people do not want to make an audio file, I will meet them face to face. I have travelled around the country to meet them. I have been researching for three decades and never conducted research that has kept me awake at night. The people in question are crying out for a voice and protection.

Focusing specifically on tips, 23% of respondents said they were kept in whole or in part by management. Some 47% said there was some system in place for distributing tips, but it was unclear or not considered to be fair. When asked for what tips were used, the responses included that they were used to cover the cost of the staff party which sometimes did not even happen, to cover the payment of a Christmas bonus - the relationship between the tips and the bonus paid was not clear - to top up the till, to pay for newspapers, to pay for walkouts and to pay for breakages. Not one person said tips were used to supplement their wages.

The Bill proposed by the Minister addresses something which, from my research and that undertaken by the Union of Students in Ireland and the Galway Hospitality Campaign, is a non-issue. There is a massive issue about tips being stolen from employees. I noted that the employer bodies had taken exception to use of the term "stolen", but what does one call it when money intended for one person is taken by another?

As well as asking discrete questions such as whether workers had received a fair share of tips, respondents were invited to submit more detail. The average time devoted to responding to the survey was 20 minutes, which is comprehensive in a world where people do not like taking surveys and their average attention span is 2.5 minutes. Many gave a great deal of data and are continuing to do so on the audio files and in the interviews I have been conducting. One of my favourite quotes was that, according to managers, all of the tips in the establishment were given to a children's hospital, but the respondent had never seen any proof of this and that it was widely believed to be a lie.