Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Tánaiste to the House and wish him well with this Bill. I think Senator Casey raised a very valid point on the question of how Revenue is going to deal with this issue. This Bill is about ensuring tips are not part of staff's wages. The point Senator Casey made is that tips will be part of their wages. Perhaps that is the way Revenue is going to treat it. More than likely, Revenue will stay silent or play dumb for a while on the matter. However, it is a very important question because it could well be that what we are legislating for here today is that tips will be part of the wages of the staff in the hospitality sector. There will be many problems implementing this legislation and adhering to the many guidelines and whatever will be attached to the Bill when it is fully implemented.

I recently spoke to Marvin Baker, who is the CEO of Lightspeed, a sustainability business. Through one of the company's initiatives, restaurant customers can choose to make a donation to offset their carbon footprint and fruit trees will be planted in the developing world. They are fruit trees that will provide food for the people and work in areas where work is badly needed. Through this legislation, we could be well down the road towards a situation where there could be confusion when a client in a restaurant gets the bill, wants to pay a tip and wants to offset some of their carbon footprint. For example, Mr. Baker told me that in the past he found that some of the contributions went missing and he did not get the number of trees that he was supposed to get in a particular month. What happens if that is the case with this legislation? It is going to be a big problem for restaurants, hotels and businesses to keep track of everything, whether it is a tip or a contribution to offset the carbon footprint. The restaurateur might decide that they do not want to introduce a tips or carbon-offsetting policy for their business. They may decide that it is up to customers to decide whether they want to leave a cash tip on the table. Will such an approach be acceptable under this legislation? Will it be acceptable for a proprietor of a restaurant or an hotel to operate in that fashion when they think there is too much work involved in the other way, with too much infighting and too many problems? They may choose to operate a policy with no tips or carbon offsetting. They may decide that it is up to the customer to decide whether they want to leave a tip on the table or contribute to offsetting their carbon footprint, and whatever happens after that it is not the restaurateur's responsibility.

As Senator Murphy said, I wonder how widespread the discrimination in the existing policy was. I was in the hospitality business for quite a number of years and I never heard any complaints, to be quite honest. I also did not hear of any restaurants that were not returning their tips to the staff. There is no doubt about it that there will be problems implementing some aspects of this Bill. For example, what happens if a hotel has a policy of returning tips to staff, a customer decides to leave €20 or €30 on the table and the person coming in to clean the room sticks the €30 into their own pocket? Are they going to be prosecuted? Where does it leave situations like that, when a member of staff does not return the tip that was left and there is a tips policy in place that all tips should be returned? I see from the second page of the explanatory memorandum that consideration will be given to the seniority or experience of the employee, whether they are on a full-time or part-time contract, whether the employee was consulted in relation to the manner of distribution and the role and influence of the employee in providing a service. There will be quite a number of problems in developing the policy that is going to be adhered to, if there is a policy to be adhered to. Perhaps some of those issues can be teased out on Committee Stage. I welcome the legislation. I think it is quite right that all tips should be returned and given to employees. That is who they are meant for and that is who should get them.