Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I know, and the Leas-Chathaoirleach always does so. I welcome the Minister back to the House. This is not aimed at her in any way. I know that she and many others have concerns abut the Bill. As Senator McDowell said, I call on her to let it pass and go before the other House where Members can table amendments if there are concerns.

I am not making a Second Stage speech or anything like that but I have concerns about how the legislation will operate. Many employers are good and many pubs and restaurants are fine. We are legislating for the hard cases. There are people who abuse the situation and effectively use tips to fund the wages of their staff rather than giving them to staff in addition to wages. Many of the people in this sector are at the lower paid end of the labour market. They are often in precarious employment. They are often vulnerable and may be in part-time jobs. These workers include students who are working to get through college. In many cases, they are working to feed a family and keep a household budget going. As a collective, we all want to make sure that tips reach their intended destination. It is important for the tipping policy in any restaurant to be transparent, whether it is compulsory or voluntary or applies to groups of more than six or ten people. A restaurant, pub, hotel or any other establishment should have a policy and people should know what that policy is in the interests of fairness. As was referred to, the cashless society is becoming a much bigger deal. Many people will give a cash tip if they pay by credit card but some people do not. There is also a concern about where the tip ends up.

Equally, there are concerns for employers. Will this system become very bureaucratic and expensive? Will employers need a staff member to administer it? By and large, employers do not want to get involved. They worry about tips becoming taxable income, as they probably will if they are recorded. This tax will be additional to employer pay-related social insurance, PRSI, obligations. We could end up with a situation where workers are worse off in the end. That is certainly not the intention of the Bill but I am concerned that it could be an unintended consequence. I certainly do not want that. As a party member, I am happy to let the legislation pass. It is a very sensible suggestion. The Minister may not be in a position to do so but I call on her to let it go to the other House and persuade Members there of the merits of any amendments the Government wishes to introduce. It is everybody's intention that hardworking people, often on minimum wages, who earn tips based on their service should receive them. They are a gesture of appreciation of the extra trouble they have gone to. Not everybody tips but I am sure lots of people do, and they mean for the money to go to the person they want it to go to. Pubs and restaurants have different systems in place. Some places pool tips, some share them with kitchen staff, some pay barmen extra because they do not get tips and so on. We do not want to over-legislate for this, which may not be possible. This is very well intentioned legislation. I commend Senator Gavan and his group on putting it forward and raising an issue that I did not realise was as big as it seems to be. Perhaps I am naive but I assumed that tips go where they should go.I always try to ensure that if I give a tip, it does go to the right person. There is a problem with certain establishments when it comes to credit cards. One of them, which is not too far from here, has been the subject of a lot of coverage. I do not know how valid that coverage is but it is probably a case of there being no smoke without fire.

Rather than dividing the House, perhaps the Minister could accept the amendment. It will probably be passed in any event but perhaps the Minister could accept it and bring it to the Lower House where it will be dealt with. I again thank Senator Gavan and his group for putting forward the amendment and highlighting the issue. My party and I are happy that there is a transparent system and that people who earn tips should benefit from them.