Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief because I spoke earlier. I wish to highlight something that came up at a meeting of the tourism committee today. We are talking about low-paid workers. To be clear, the call from Sinn Féin is that the full daily rate of sick pay is paid. What the Government might not be aware of is that, according to Fáilte Ireland, whose statistics I do not doubt, 68% of people who work in the hospitality sector earn less than €12 per hour. That is seven in ten workers in that sector. It is a disgraceful figure, but that is the fact of the matter. If this Bill is to work for low-paid workers, it certainly will not work if the State is to pay 70% of a rate of pay that is less than €12 an hour. We can and must do better.