Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was here. It is important that, in the context of the Bill, we work together to ensure there is a desire to protect employees, as Senator Gavan said. I heard him on Newstalk or RTÉ yesterday, and I agree with him.

A lot of work needs to be done on the Bill, which the Minister of State, Deputy Breen, acknowledged. It is a complex Bill. The fundamental core of what it is trying to do is to protect employees. I have always been concerned about where the money goes and how the pool of money is given to employees when customers use Laser or credit cards in restaurants or other places where people tip at the end of service. The Bill is also about ensuring there are adequate protections for employees.

Our service industry is one of the most important parts of our country. It is cliched and hackneyed to say that, but when people refer to the céad míle fáilte and welcome they receive in Ireland it is the people who work in the service industry who contribute to that. Front-of-house receptionists, waiters and bartenders in pubs, restaurants and everywhere else contribute to that. By and large, we are very lucky in terms of the people who serve and work for us.

The Minister of State, Deputy Breen, referred to the UK model and what it did and did not do. We should never follow the UK; we should always lead ourselves. I hope we can do that. That is why I am glad we are not opposing the Bill on Second Stage. It is about ensuring that people who work and deliver a service receive due remuneration and respect from us as citizens of a republic. We speak about a republic of opportunity. That applies to those who get up early in the morning or work all day and night. There was a programme on RTÉ on Monday about what Ireland eats. People get up in the middle of the night in order to be in work at a particular time or work antisocial hours. The same applies to those working in hotels and restaurants.

The Minister referred to contact and communication with different stakeholders in our hospitality sector. One of the best things the previous Government did was to reduce the VAT rate, which was an activation measure to create employment in the hospitality sector. Look at what has happened since in the hospitality sector. Prices have increased for hotel rooms in Dublin and other areas. For some reason, hotels in the capital city of our country have this week charged members of the public astronomical amounts of money.

If we are serious about job retention in the hospitality sector, we must sit down with the Irish Hotels Federation, IBEC and any other relevant stakeholders and address the spiralling cost of accommodation in our capital city and other parts of the country. There will be a reduction in jobs if prices continue to increase. That is not good enough, given that in its very first budget in 2011 the then Government took a decision to cut the VAT rate and retained it following lobbying in the intervening period.

Senator Higgins referred to the Low Pay Commission and said we cannot wait. We all want people to be paid a decent living wage - I am all for that. However, she failed to recognise that yesterday the Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty, addressed a pension anomaly. There is a commitment in respect of the Low Pay Commission. I am not referring to Senator Higgins's speech; rather, I am speaking in general about people who, on the Order of Business today, attacked the Minister for not going far enough. She gave a commitment and addressed the matter. The Low Pay Commission was established under the National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Act 2015. It will come back with recommendations and work to address the issues which need to be ironed out in this Bill.

We must make a statement of endorsement and affirmation to the men and women who work in our service industry. In tandem with that, from a political perspective, there is a need for the political will to bring about change and ensure there is no rip-off Ireland or under-the-counter skulduggery taking place. I am not saying there is because I know from having spoken to people in advance of the publication of the Bill that restaurateurs in Cork operate on the basis that tips go to workers and are pooled or allocated to those waiting on tables, kitchen porters or whoever else is part of the operation.

It is also important to recognise that this Government and the previous one rebuilt our economy with the Irish people. There are more people back at work. People should compare the number of people who were unemployed at the beginning of 2012 with the number for 2018. There has been a gargantuan change in the landscape of our country. There are now cries that we have traffic gridlock and cannot get people to fill certain jobs. On the Order of Business today, I made the point that there is a deficit in apprenticeship numbers which we must address, in particular in the construction sector. People involved in the construction sector say significant holes need to be filled.

I welcome the Bill. I am glad we are not opposing it as a Government. We must all work to ensure that workers get their remuneration and receive to what they are entitled. I again commend Senator Gavan. I put my sword back in the scabbard for this debate but we will resume hostilities another day. I commend the Bill.