Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I wish to speak about this issue because I support the thrust of the Bill. Senator Máire Devine is right - it affects people across the spectrum, including students, males and females, young and old. Why do we tip in restaurants? I will define "restaurant" as both a restaurant and a pub, as pubs now usually serve food. We are more inclined to give a larger tip when we get better service. I feel strongly about this matter. It is important that we have structures in place to ensure the person to whom we intend the tip go actually receives it. The majority of employers are reasonable and fair, but as there are unscrupulous individuals in every walk of life, we must ensure that whatever measures are in place address this issue.

When the House debated the Life Saving Equipment Bill 2017 last night, it was stated that, although there were probably many measures within existing legislation through which we could deal with the issue of people wilfully damaging defibrillators and other life-saving equipment, it would be a good idea to address the matter in specific legislation that would be worked on by Fianna Fáil and the Government to leave us with something that would function. This Bill fits into a similar category. Everyone agrees with its import. There is myriad legislation on the protection of workers' rights, but there does not appear to be anything specific to deal with this issue. The Low Pay Commission has addressed various matters. While it has not dealt with this one specifically, it has a body of knowledge.

What is being proposed in the Bill will be accepted by all and there is significant goodwill towards it. In a cross-party spirit, I hope that goodwill will be reciprocated when we engage in detailed due diligence so as to ensure there will be no unintended consequences. What I have learned during the years is that legislation is not perused enough by Members. That is possibly not the case in this House, but it is certainly the case in the Lower House. In many instances, legislation went through in double-quick time without the perusal required, only for us to suddenly find that it did not work in practice.

What is being proposed in the Bill makes great sense. Like all legislation, it must go through the process of having a body of research prepared. We will then consider the legislation in the normal way on Committee Stage. Much legislation moves over and back. Obviously, we cannot consider legislation forever, but the longer we consider it and the more time it receives, the more we can strengthen it and tease out its unintended consequences.

The Bill is specific rather than overarching, as the Title describes. I hope it will progress and be examined by an expert group. All parties are aiming to research it. I am a research man and hope we will find a way to ensure that, when we have a meal in a restaurant or a pub in Limerick or anywhere else and receive particularly good service, the tip we leave will get to the person for whom it is intended. In my experience, those who work in the industry are invariably good and polite. We still have the céad míle fáilte.

I have only addressed a single aspect, but the Bill contains several measures. I am glad to support the basic principle behind it. I would like the Bill to be subject to the normal perusal and due diligence it deserves. It could then be reverted back to us as a body of work that would function in practice, as the main intention should not just be to get a Bill through but to get legislation through that will do exactly what it is intended to do.