Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is hard to follow on from that very agreeable contribution from Senator Norris. I do not always agree with him but on this occasion I agree with practically everything he has said. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne to the Chamber, it is great to have her here. The Minister of State, Deputy Pat Breen was here earlier but he did not stay to answer questions. That is all right too.

I come from County Clare, where the hospitality industry is a very significant employer. This is an extremely important piece of legislation. What has gone on in businesses when it comes to gratuities and tips is an absolute disgrace. Tips are paid because people are happy with the service. They got a good product and felt good about themselves. The people serving and looking after them did so in a way that made them feel happy about their meal and the occasion for which they were out. It is not acceptable for businesses to retain any portion of the tip.

Equally, if there is a restaurant with five staff out front and another five or six staff in the back doing the cooking and washing up, when a tip is left, the staff in the back should be entitled to their portion as well. They are part of the equation that makes up the overall experience. People usually will not tip if they do not get a good meal or if they do not like the food, irrespective of how good the service is. Equally, if people have a very nice meal but the service is not good, they will not tip either. Usually when people tip, it is because they have had a whole, rounded, positive experience. The various people who help make up that experience should be rewarded. Unfortunately, in a lot of cases and particularly in tourist areas - I would not be as familiar with Dublin - it is the front-of-house people who benefit most when the tips are given. There are many fair employers who divide it up, however, which is welcome.

As to whether gratuities should form part of someone's taxable income, Senator Norris is right that it is a gift. There is a certain threshold here whereby one can receive up to a certain threshold per annum tax free in terms of a gift. It should be classified as a gift. I do not think there is anybody in this country who is paying tax on tips. If there is, I would love to meet them because they must be getting some ginormous tips.

A lot of young people fund their college courses and their accommodation, in particular, through tips they get from employers that do pay them back out. That is good because it is educating young people, giving them the opportunity to embrace education and fulfil their lives. I talk to many young people who tell me it is as a result of the tips that they have been able to live in reasonably good accommodation and so forth. Not all restauranteurs, hoteliers and so forth are blackguarding when it comes to tips. Quite a lot of them are paying them out.

I commend Senator Ó Clochartaigh. It is the first I heard of that scheme in Galway. It is like a quality mark for treating staff right. Maybe it could be extended into other industries as well. I would encourage the Minister of State, if there is a few euro somewhere along the line, to see if they could get a grant towards what they are doing on a pilot basis to see if it could be extended. It sounds like a wonderful concept.

There is a practice that goes on in tourist areas in particular, where bus drivers will bring a bus-load of people to a restaurant.The driver will get his meal free, which is absolutely appropriate and I do not have an issue with it. However, there may be hello money involved whereby a bus driver is getting €100 or maybe even more if he brings 50 people into a particular restaurant. That is a worrying practice that should be taxed and should not really be allowed. I have some concern that this is becoming very prevalent. I am also concerned that some of our State operators are also engaging in it, perhaps in an ad hoc, informal way. My understanding is that there could be a blind eye being turned to it. CIÉ and all those organisations need to publish their policies on bringing people to certain venues to reassure us that there is no money changing hands or anything like that. If it is the case, it is certainly not appropriate.

Overall, it is a very innovative piece of legislation. If the Government cannot support it for whatever reason, I hope it may take the benefits and good parts out of it and bring them into another Bill that could be developed. The debate has been extremely useful. It has highlighted something that has evolved in an ad hocway. When that happens, those who are less honourable in how they treat people can get away with things. As Senator Ó Clochartaigh quite rightly pointed out, it does not help those who do their business right. Some sort of guidelines through legislation would be very welcome in this area.