Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I join her in commending and congratulating the workers involved on taking that case. The outcome from the Labour Court is clear. We are working on amendments to the Bill. I engaged with the Attorney General on it yesterday. The difficulty is that a mandatory service charge is not a gratuity or tip. It is compulsory. If you do not pay it, the restaurateur or publican can call the gardaí. That is the fundamental difference between a mandatory service charge and a tip or gratuity. We are looking at two options to amend and improve the Bill. One is to outlaw mandatory service charges altogether; the second is to require that, if there is a mandatory service charge, it is distributed to the workers in the same way as a tip or gratuity would be. We will have a chance in the committee on Committee Stage to engage on that.

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