David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The only thing on which I agree with the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, is that this was a good debate. The problem is that the people whom this Bill is intended to help do not need debate. They need support. They need the politicians to do their job. A minority of employers are unscrupulous in taking people's tips and using them to supplement very low pay or to bolster their profits. Our job is to ensure they are no longer in a position to do so. Some issues are complex and need very complex legislation. There is no doubt about that. Then there are issues that are black and white, and this is a very simple, black and white issue. I have sat here for the past two hours and listened to all of those who spoke. Deputy Mattie McGrath is the only one who struck a note of discord. Everyone else in opposition spoke in favour of the Bill. They could see that this is a black-and-white issue. It is for the people in the Visitors Gallery who are low-paid workers fighting to make sure they can keep their tips and fighting on behalf of all the other people throughout the State, including in County Kerry. They would be positively affected by this Bill if it passed.

There is a real sense of déjà vuabout this. Two years ago, I introduced a Bill in this House to deal with precarious work, if-and-when and low-hour contracts. Ministers sat there as the Minister of State is doing now.

They made all the same excuses and put in our way all the same blocks, with all of the same red herrings, to the effect that the sky would fall in if the Bill passed. That Bill was to make sure that we dealt with the issue of zero-hour and low-hour contracts. The Government said it could not be done and that if the Bill was passed, the sky would fall in on employers and on the economy. What did the Government do? It brought forward its own Bill very shortly afterwards because it knew that something had to be done. The Government knew that Sinn Féin had put forward a solution but as it did not want to accept a Sinn Féin solution, it brought forward a Bill of its own. The Government's Bill, however, watered down the proposals to the extent that they would have no real impact for the people the legislation was supposed to support. It was through the work of Deputy Brady and others that we were able to include amendments to strengthen that Bill to at least give some comfort to those workers.

The same is happening here. The Minister of State has said that our Bill is not the solution and that the Government would bring forward its own Bill, which is imminent. This flies in the face of what the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty, said earlier in one of her criticisms. The Minister cited the Low Pay Commission and said legislation is not the solution and there is no legislative remedy. On the other hand, the Minister stated she will amend legislation as part of the solution. Which is it? By introducing these red herrings about taxation - which have nothing to do with this Bill - the Government is telling these workers they must wait. Deputy Pearse Doherty is correct when he talks of the application of a money message. All Members in the House are aware this is a tactic by Fine Gael to stop the democratic will of this Dáil and this Parliament. When we have voted for proposals that are in the interests of ordinary working people and hard-working families the Government will try to block it - by attaching a money message - if the proposal does not come from it. I put it to the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, the only message this sends is that he and the Government do not care about people in low-paid positions.

I ask the Minister of State to put himself, if he can, into the shoes of a restaurant worker who is paid €324 per week on average. Imagine being one of those workers living in Dublin with its high rents. Average rents in Dublin are €1,600 per month. Some workers may have childcare costs. The Minister of State will be aware that restaurant workers work very peculiar and varied hours; it could be morning, evening or night-time. There is no certainty in the employment with regard to hours. Restaurant workers do very demanding jobs and are on their feet almost all of the time they are in work. The only thing they can look forward to that might supplement the very low levels of pay is tips. All the Bill seeks to do is make sure the employees can keep their tips but the Government puts every possible block in the way of progressing the Bill.

The people who are affected do not care if the legislation comes from Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin or the Government. They want us all to work together to do our job. Fianna Fáil and others indicated they would amend some of the elements of the Bill. That is why we have various Stages when progressing legislation. If there are flaws in any Bill we can work on them to perfect the Bill. If the Government was really concerned about all of the provisions of the Bill, it could have accepted the Bill, allowed it to go on to Committee Stage, perfect the Bill, work with it, and then we could have had legislation in place very quickly with remedies for those workers who need it.

Almost every week the Taoiseach sits in this Chamber and criticises the Opposition for not having solutions. The reality is that we have solutions and we put forward solutions all the time, but the Government blocks them with money messages, by voting down Bills and by defying a majority of people in the House and in Seanad Éireann. When they see the cynical politics that come from Fine Gael and the cynical politics of Ministers who put in place every red herring they can think of to block a simple and basic protection for people with very low levels of pay to keep their tips, is it any wonder that in the last local election, almost 50% of the people did not vote? The Government should be ashamed of itself for not supporting this Bill. The Government is doing it for party political purposes, which is worse.

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