Ms Fiona Dunne:

In terms of perceptions of the sector, we hear a lot that employment in it is only transient, involves only students and so on. Way back, 20-odd years ago, when we had proper certification and apprenticeship schemes, there was proper career progression and a career path. Mr. Hynes and Mr. Kelly might say more about this. The question is which issue came first. Did the destruction of the sector come first in that students were encouraged to join the industry and thereby make it a transient sector? That question has to be asked. There still are a lot of people in the sector who rely on it for their wages. We talked about the figures for the people paying rent and all the rest of it. We know the real situation.

Changing the perception of the sector probably is something we need to do. However, it should not be a case of dismissing it on the basis that it only involves students, even if that were the case. Anyone undertaking these jobs should be paid correctly, no matter who they are. Students and others who might only stay for a year or two should still get proper pay and conditions and be treated correctly. We have to let the sector become what it was in the past, that is, an industry in which people can have a career with decent progression and can imagine themselves staying and being available to avail of reskilling and upskilling for 20 or 30 years. However, that is not what the employers want. They want low wages and low value in terms of what they have to pay out and worker conditions. It is important we stick to trying to improve the conditions and changing the perception such that, regardless of who is in the sector, they are all doing a job, no matter what that job is, they should be properly paid for it and there should be opportunities for people to stay in the sector.

I will hand over to Mr. Shevlin to respond to the question on tipping as he has more information on that.