Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am being agreeable, as always. I will mention amendments Nos. 1 and 3 first, and then I will get onto the stuff everyone else was doing before they mentioned those amendments. I have no issue with the question of adjudicators versus mediators. I welcome amendment No. 3. I outlined a concern to Senator Gavan earlier. One of my nominating bodies represents Dublin publicans, namely, the Licensed Vintners Association, LVA. I asked for its members' opinion on what was going ahead. They do not feel there is a major problem in their particular sector. That is what they focus on. I am not taking anything away from the Vintner's' Federation of Ireland, VFI. It is hard to get good staff and employers want to reward good staff. Publicans have loads of different ways of doing it. Some pay more to kitchen staff because they do not get tips, while others pay a lower rate to workers who get a share of the tips. There are loads of different ways to do it. The LVA was concerned about becoming responsible for all the tips, dealing with the rows and assigning a members of staff to deal full-time with tips, credit cards, service charges and all the other complications. That organisation had not seen the amendments until they were published yesterday. Its members are happier that this is the case. They are of the view that an employer should never withhold tips in any scenario. They are not interested in that. I do not know what hotel chains or high-end restaurants do, but it is not what they are interested in. They want to protect the person who earns the tip for good service.

There are times when I want to give a certain person who served me a larger tip than someone else. He or she may have been much more hospitable and better at the job than someone else. I do not know how that can be done in a group scheme. There are different ways of doing it. One establishment will do it one way and a different establishment will do it another. To each their own. It is a voluntary tronc scheme. It does not have to be done, and I am sure lots of people will decide that if things are working as they are in their business it does not have to change.

If legislation is needed, which is clear from what Senator Gavan says, it is needed in some parts of the hospitality industry more than others. My party's position is to support this. We have made a submission to the Low Pay Commission and we await the publication of its report. I have one concern. Perhaps the Minister of State could address it at some point. I do not know how the revenue currently deals with tips. If arrangements became overly prescriptive, people might end up liable for pay as you earn, PAYE, universal social charge, USC, and pay-related social insurance, PRSI, contributions that they currently are not. Perhaps they should declare it, but they may not be. They might end up worse off after the scheme was introduced than before. I know that is not Senator Gavan's intention. That is my concern. Perhaps the Minister of State can address how these schemes work. Is it all done by self-declaration?

Amendment No. 1 is perfectly fine. In regard to amendment No. 3, I am glad it has changed from "employer" to "employee". I thank Senator Gavan, former Senator, Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, and all the Members who have contributed to this discussion and to getting this to the next Stage.