Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Okay, perhaps the committee can follow up on that with the Minister. I turn to Mr. Fenn and Ms Campbell of the Irish Hotels Federation. In their previous submission to the committee in January, and they touched on this earlier, they were very clear they were against joint labour committees, JLCs. I believe they said JLCs are utterly unnecessary and that they favour the minimum wage and the employment industrial relations legislation, which is very weak in this State. They also mentioned tips in the opening statement today. They said, "Employees in our sector also benefit from gratuities provided by customers." That is well and fine, but tips are not guaranteed. There is a Bill going through the Houses regarding tips, to afford workers the protection of guaranteeing their tips because of practices that were ongoing. However, most people would say it is up to the employer to pay the staff and not to be including the possibility of tips on top of that. According to Fáilte Ireland's research and, indeed, Unite the Union, 62% of respondents said better pay would encourage them to work for an employer and 56% said they would like similar entitlements to other jobs. Given the chronic shortage of staff, would the Irish Hotels Federation accept its industry's refusal to entertain better pay and conditions is exacerbating the recruitment problems in the industry?