David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The circumstances addressed in the Bill do not only affect Ireland. We heard evidence of similar legislation in Canada. Restaurant staff in the United States could not survive on their wages and need tips. In France, if one does not leave "service" in a restaurant, one is battered on the head.

With regard to credit cards, it is a bit cheeky to leave a space for tips on bills paid by card. Sometimes the staff are no bloody use. Why should one give a tip to someone who is absolutely useless? I had an experience recently while waiting outside the Gresham Hotel for a taxi to take to me to St. Patrick's Cathedral where I was due to speak at a service. After waiting for about ten minutes, a woman approached and when a taxi pulled in, I got in because I was the first person in the queue. The driver then asked me if the woman was with me. I replied that I had never seen her before and she had just arrived in the queue. He responded by calling me a disgrace. "You call yourself a gentleman", he said. I have never called myself a gentleman and I told him I had been waiting for ten minutes before the woman in question floated into the queue. He wanted to let her into the taxi because she was a bit of skirt and he could go to hell, I said. When I was getting out I told him he was not getting a tip because he was an ignorant, ill-mannered thug. At that stage, I had got out of the taxi and was standing on the pavement.I was afraid he might take a smack at me. Among the things I do not like in restaurants is the way they push drinks, particularly upmarket restaurants. They do not ask if guests would like three starters instead of two but they will keep pouring and opening more bottles and pushing the drink.