Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I probably will not need the whole eight minutes, but I do want to contribute to this debate. The Minister is welcome to the House and I thank her for being here. I acknowledge my party colleague, Deputy Niamh Smyth, and Senator Carrigy. It is obviously a very well put together report. It involved State agencies, union groups, academics and others, including the sector, on issues affecting workers and their wages. It is important that we have this debate and that we speak about this. It is important that we ensure all workers are treated properly and that we iron out any difficulties there may be.

The contribution of travel and tourism to the GDP in Ireland was €4.6 billion in 2020 and €5.1 billion in 2021. If one looks at 2019 figure, it was €14.8 billion, one can see what happened with Covid and the difficulties it created. I am always conscious of one thing when we talk about this sector, that is the number of students and young people who work within the sector. This work forms part of their income that gets them through college. It happens to lots of families. That is where they go. Students are seen as people who engage well with others in the sector. When they are serving in hotels, they have a good rapport with the public.

One of the things I have noticed about this industry is how abusive a minority of the general public are to staff in hotels and bars. We spoke earlier about front-line workers - gardaí, teachers, nurses - and all that is happening to them. I have noticed at several functions over the past year that a sizeable minority of the general public are very abusive to people working behind the bar in restaurants. I have witnessed this. We need to speak out about this and condemn it. We need to say it is wrong. When we talk about all the other things that are wrong, such as improper conditions, I want to hear unions and everyone else talking about the abuse that is taking place at bar counters, which can be absolutely outrageous at times. I cannot understand how people do it. It is quite ignorant, to be honest. It should not be tolerated and we should speak out about it.

While there is no doubt there are employers throughout the sector who do not have much regard for staff, things have improved. We also have to be aware that Ireland, despite growing tourism, is not a 24-7, 12-month tourist attraction as such. We do not have the sand, sun and sea for 12 months of the year. That is a factor. While we have this debate, we must also acknowledge that tourism can be quite seasonal. If you have good weather in summer and autumn, you will do well. If you have poor weather, you are not going to have as good a time and you are not going to have many visitors. We need to take that into account.

It is important that we do everything within our power to ensure all staff working in this sector are treated with respect and dignity.If they are not getting proper wages, it is up to us in the Oireachtas to sort it out. We may have to come together with the sector because there will be some family businesses that will not be able to keep up current payments to staff; that is the reality. I have come across three of four businesses in recent times which are closed. They cannot keep going. It is not the staff who are costing a lot of money. Despite all the considerable support they have got from the Government, the energy costs are really crippling these business owners. As we move forward with this, I want to make it very clear that we must treat workers properly and give them every support. They should come forward and let us know if they are being wrongly treated or being underpaid. There is no doubt that the work hours can be extremely long and can mean working from early evening to early morning. That is a very long time with very few breaks. As we ensure the staff in the sector are treated properly and get a proper wage, their breaks and their tips - this issue had to be sorted out and was sorted out pretty well - we must also acknowledge that some people in the business have it tough. We need to bring them with us. If they need help to ensure their staff and everybody else are looked after properly, as a Government and as politicians we must do it.