Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I second the amendment to the Order of Business from my colleague, Senator Devine.

I call for a debate on the hospitality sector. Sinn Féin's National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017 continues to progress in the Dáil. I record my disappointment that Fine Gael opposes a legal right to tips for hospitality workers. The issues in the hospitality sector go beyond that. I refer to the Workplace Relations Commission's reports for the last three years. Some 48% of the food and drink sector was rated non-compliant with basic employment law in 2016, with 58% non-compliance in 2017, and 67% non-compliance in 2018. In other words, the majority of our restaurants and hotels are not compliant with basic law such as issuing a work contract, complying with the National Minimum Wage Act, the Organisation of Working Time Act and the Payment of Wages Act. The standards in this sector are shocking.

I refer specifically to Limerick. Limerick City and County Council provides hundreds of thousands of euro each year to two hotels, the Strand Hotel and Savoy Hotel, neither of which recognise trade unions. Is it not time that we as a country decide, when we are going to award taxpayers' money, that we at least insist on a level of decency? We should call on those hotels to recognise the rights of their staff to join a trade union and be recognised as trade union members. This has gone on for far too long and the Workplace Relations Commission's evidence shows that it gets worse each year. A 67% rate of non-compliance with basic employment law is not good enough. We need a debate on the matter and we need politicians across all parties to act on this issue.