Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Barrett's amendment. I have had the experience of being involved in various public bodies. I was chairman of one hospital, I was chairman of An Post and I am involved in the Seanad. Referring to our customers in An Post, I was reasonably successful in being able to begin the process of calling the public "the customers" and it began to work quite well. I had less success in the hospitals at getting the nurses and doctors to call the patients "customers". One does not win them all.

When I became a member of the Seanad 21 years, I did not know where to start. However, I started to look for the customer in each piece of legislation and I tabled amendments to Bills that had not been thought of heretofore. In one particular case, when the unfair dismissals legislation was going through, I tabled an amendment to the effect that it should include "age" as one of the grounds on which one should not be dismissed. The reason was that I had been involved in a hotel where one of the directors asked the manager to put a bright young attractive woman behind the reception desk. The manager said there was a very good woman in the position. The director again said he would like a bright young attractive woman in the position. The manager then asked what he would do with the older lady in the position, to which the director replied, "Just get rid of her". I regarded that as very wrong. Therefore, I sought to include "age" as one of the grounds on which one could not be dismissed and it was accepted.

I was very impressed when I received two letters the following week from trade unionists who said they had the Bill circulated to them and all their members and they had not thought of that issue. It was an employer, a boss, who came up with it, rather than one of their own members. I fully support the whole concept of customers and I know the Minister does. I hope this amendment will strengthen the requirement to refer to the public as "customers".