Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

One needs divine inspiration as well as a satnav. I travelled a road in the west which did not exist on the satnav. We did not know where we were. Road signage is crucially important because it can put people off. One hears of European visitors who cannot comprehend that the signage is just not there. That is something at which we certainly need to look. We also need to provide support to local areas to develop accommodation and other amenities.

The Government also needs to recognise that, while tourism might be year-round in Dublin city and a few other select towns, it is a seasonal business in the main. This is a major issue for businesses and for their workers in particular. We are told that there are more than 260,000 jobs in the industry but it has to be acknowledged that a large portion of these are seasonal, which leaves workers in rural areas out of work for the winter months. It also makes it difficult for businesses to hold on to staff year on year as people cannot afford to remain in the industry. As we all know, many of these jobs are low paid and there are also some very questionable work practices in some parts of the industry.

While I am on that subject, I will express my disappointment that the Government opposed Sinn Féin's National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017, which passed Final Stage in the Seanad yesterday. The Bill, which had cross-party support, aims to give a legal right to workers to keep their own hard-earned tips. It is designed to remedy a situation in which workers have no legal right to keep their tips. I do not know if many people realise that a third of employers regularly take their employees' tips from them. The reasons given by the Minister, Deputy Doherty, for opposing the Bill were weak and did not stand up to any scrutiny whatsoever. I hope that the parties that supported the Bill in the Seanad yesterday will continue to do so but I also appeal to the Minister of State and to the Minister, Deputy Ross, to reconsider their position and to support workers in tourism when the Bill comes before the Dáil.

Workers working in the tourism industry are often the first to meet and greet people arriving at their destination. If workers are happy and operating in a proper working environment rather than scraping by on the bare minimum wage while their tips are taken from them, it improves the reception tourists receive. If one looks up reviews for a particular hotel one will see that the hospitality people have received is the first thing they remember. If one sees that service was bad or that staff were unfriendly, unhelpful, or did not assist tourists, it instantly puts one off the idea of visiting. The way to ensure a good reception is to ensure that workers are looked after and that they keep the tips they work hard to earn. I hope the Minister of State will reconsider his position and will have a chat with the Minister, Deputy Doherty, and ask her to also reconsider her position when the Bill comes before the Dáil.

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