Pat Casey (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Tánaiste to the House, and I welcome the Bill. However, as somebody who has lived his life in the hospitality sector I am disappointed that we have to introduce a piece of legislation for the distribution of what is surely the entitlement of staff to their tips. I am disappointed that it has come to that. A minority of businesses are not distributing tips properly. A majority of us put our staff front and centre because we are a service industry. Without staff, the hospitality sector does not have an industry. Staff are the one key component we need to survive now and into the future, and we must look after them. In my lifetime, I have never at any stage not distributed tips for staff to them.

A lot has been said. Senator Gavan mentioned the JLC. I will speak about my experience of the JLC. Sadly, my father passed away very suddenly and I had to take over our hotel long before I had ever intended to do so. I relied on the JLC. It gave me a framework within which to structure my pay and conditions for staff. I have engaged with the JLC process. Senator Gavan is right in that it provided staff with a structured four-year process whereby they would get a pay increase on an annual basis. The JLC also differentiated between tipping and non-tipping zones, and took account of the fact that while tips are given out at the front the staff at the back might not necessarily get them. There was a compensation factor there. At that time, there was a differentiation between male and female wages, which when we think about it was disgraceful.

As the industry struggles and tries to reopen, we have seen a wholesale exodus of the key core element of the sector, namely staff, pay and conditions will become a vital part of how we try to revitalise our industry. There is a significant labour shortage. We are back to almost 100% employment and we are struggling to get applications for jobs requiring specific skills in the industry. I ask the Tánaiste to immediately examine the work permit and visa process.

Service charges have been mentioned. I have never used them and have never seen the need to. At one stage in the 1990s, there were two service charges in some hotels in Dublin. There was a service charge and then a basic service charge, BSC, which added between 12.5% and 15% to a bill. I welcome the clarity that even when a service charge is operated, businesses have to display how it is distributed or broken down. If nothing else, the Bill is doing that.

The distribution of tips in the industry is a minefield. Let us call a spade a spade. Cash has been mentioned, and I could give the House examples of schemes and processes that have been put in place. We have all left tips under saucers or given them to people behind the counter or staff walking out the door. From an employer point of view, trying to control that is almost impossible.

As an employer, I would love everything to be electronic. I could then physically control how money is distributed. We spent six months in our hotel trying to come up with a scheme that was more transparent and ensured everybody, down to kitchen porters and housemaids, got tips. Tips were proportionate across all staff and were distributed with wages on a weekly basis. By week six of that process, the pool of money had almost disappeared. We went back to the previous situation with cash whereby whoever got cash took it. Dealing with cash is complex, and the Tánaiste referred to that. There is a track record with electronic payments and businesses can manage that process.

The role of Revenue in respect of tips could come back to haunt us down the road. What does the Tánaiste think that role should be? There are electronic records to establish what tips were collected and to whom they have been distributed. We all know that in America the rate is almost 15%. My brother operates a hotel in Washington and has told me that staff never collect their wages because it is used to pay the tax on the tips they receive. We need to know what the understanding of employers will be in respect of tips collected and whether staff will have to pay tax on that money. Staff are entitled to know that.