Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Tánaiste to the House this afternoon and thank him for coming to discuss this important issue. I wish to pay compliment both Senator Doherty, who brought the Bill forward when she was Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, and other colleagues who have done a lot of work in relation to the Bill. I know that the Tánaiste, as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, is very committed to improving the lives of workers. I welcome the fact that this legislation is before us here today.

I have been talking and chatting to people and employees working in restaurants. The majority of people I have spoken to are very happy with the set-up within their own places of employment. Certainly, I have found that workers are in receipt of their tips, and in most places, the pot of money is divided among the employees working on a particular night. However, I understand that there are workers who are not in receipt of their tips. Therefore, I think it is very important that this legislation is brought forward.

On the point raised by Senator Casey about the way Revenue will treat electronic tipping, I believe that tips are taxed in the USA and other countries. I would not like to see us going down that route because I believe that when customers give an employee a tip, they give it in good faith for the services they have received. I know that in some places there are service charges and it was thought that a portion of such charges would go towards tips, but not every place has service charges. I suppose it does not affect businesses. I am aware that in some places, when customers are paying by card, an option comes up on the card machine offering them the option to leave a tip. I do not know if that could be introduced right across all card machines or whether it would be a big piece of work. I am sure the machines are programmed by banks when they are provided to the businesses for their use. You see it in some places. It is possibly a reminder for the person who is paying the bill that there is the option to leave a tip. However, I think most people go with the old-fashioned model of leaving the money. During Covid, not all of us had cash in our pockets, so many people moved to the use of cards.

I want to compliment the Tánaiste on his work in bringing forward this legislation. I fully support it. I think it is very important that we support the rights of the worker. I wish to compliment the Tánaiste and the Department on all the work that has been done, because times have been very challenging with both Covid and Brexit. I know of the Tánaiste's commitment to both employers and employees. Certainly, we would not be coming out the other side of Covid without the support from the Tánaiste's Department. I wish to acknowledge that and thank him. This legislation has my full support.