Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 May 2022
1. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if she will outline her Department’s strategy to tackle cyberbullying and harassment, particularly of children; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22104/22]
View answerThe Minister, Deputy Martin, sends her apologies. She has a bereavement in her family and cannot be here this morning.
Recruitment continues to be a significant challenge for the tourism sector, with up to two thirds of businesses reporting reduced capacity due to staff shortages. My Department and Fáilte Ireland have been collaborating with industry and other Departments to ensure there is a co-ordinated approach to addressing the labour and skills shortages. In February 2022 Fáilte Ireland published its most comprehensive research to date on the tourism and hospitality labour market. This robust and wide-ranging research programme covered the views of 1,000 employers and 3,500 workers with tourism and hospitality experience as well as international benchmarking and a review of education provision and consultation with recruitment agencies. This research is shaping Fáilte Ireland's work programmes this year to provide support to the industry. Fáilte Ireland's work includes supporting businesses to work together to drive the long-term repositioning of the sector as an appealing and rewarding career choice and workplace, helping to build the capability of individual employees to assist businesses to bridge the skills gaps they are experiencing and also driving greater employer attention by improving the quality of training across the business.
Fáilte Ireland also chairs the tourism and hospitality careers oversight group, which continues to work closely with industry bodies, education providers and other Government bodies to support sustainable employment in the tourism sector with an immediate focus on recruitment and retention initiatives, as well as focusing on the long-term repositioning of the industry as a career choice.
My Department and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science are both represented on the career oversight group. Officials from my Department also participate in the inter-departmental group on work permits chaired by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The work of the group resulted in up to 350 work permits being granted for managerial positions in certain tourism and hospitality businesses. Last year my Department also successfully advocated for the prioritisation of chef permit applications, that is, engaging with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with regard to different permits now required. My Department and Fáilte Ireland will continue to engage with and provide support to the tourism sector through these challenging times.
The situation is so bad now that some restaurants and pubs have to close early or are having to close a few days a week to cope with the shortage. The shortage of chefs is particularly acute. The Minister of State mentioned Fáilte Ireland's tourism careers research. That showed that there is currently a shortage of 40,000 workers in the tourism and hospitality sector, and 30% of businesses that were surveyed in 2021 said that they faced closure if recruitment challenges are not resolved. Given the very difficult past two years that the businesses in this sector have had, this is making things much harder for them at a time when they should be firing on all cylinders. Would the Minister of State agree that his Government should lead on this and increase the minimum wage to a living wage?
Fáilte Ireland is working hand in glove with key sectoral bodies on the tourism and hospitality oversight group, which is pivoted to focus on supporting the industry to address some of its immediate recruitment challenges in the months ahead. Obviously, matters relating to wage rates are set by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and we are working with the Department as part of the career oversight group. The current staffing and skills shortages in the tourism sector are unprecedented. However, staffing shortages are not just a problem in the tourism sector. There are many sectors in the Irish economy facing this same change. Tourism around the world is also experiencing it. The loss of skilled workers and the difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff is undoubtedly one of the greatest barriers to the sector's recovery from the pandemic. Even before Covid, the tourism industry faced a particular set of employment challenges in attracting and retaining workers. The closure of the sector exacerbated those challenges. Fáilte Ireland estimates that there are more than 40,000 vacancies in the industry across all roles, with almost a quarter estimated at management level. As I said, every piece of work now with Fáilte Ireland is being occupied with trying to work within that oversight group to meet the unprecedented challenges in the months ahead.
It is not up to Fáilte Ireland to solve this problem. I asked what the Minister of State's opinion was on the Government increasing the minimum wage to a living wage for workers in the sector. Retention is equally as much a problem along with recruitment. According, again, to Fáilte Ireland's research, one in three workers in the sector was new to tourism and hospitality, and 42% of workers in the sector who are on the PUP did not return to their employers. Does the Minister of State think there is a case where employers improved pay conditions that they might be able to manage and to improve retention levels? Everyone in the sector understands that there are unsociable hours, but when you have people working very long hours, when they are sometimes denied breaks and having to work split shifts on a wage on which they just cannot afford to live, bearing in mind there is a cost-of-living crisis and a rental crisis and people simply cannot afford to work. Also, the sector is very vulnerable because the trade unions are not organised in the sector. Given that he has not answered the question about his Government's opinion on increasing the minimum wage to a living wage, what is his opinion on the role of employers in improving conditions to retain staff in the sector?
I refer to the long-term retention of employees in the industry. That is why Fáilte Ireland is developing an excellent employer programme to showcase good employers across the industry and to help businesses improve their employer practices and reputation.
The programme aims to reposition the industry as an appealing and rewarding place to work which can attract and retain talent. Participating businesses will have access to people management training for their teams, employee surveys and a range of bespoke business supports as well as the opportunity to become a certified top employer thereby enhancing their employer brand and supporting their recruitment and retention.
Fáilte Ireland is also working through a recruitment awareness campaign to drive the awareness of a variety of roles available and it is launching a multiplatform recruitment campaign with an allocation of €600,000 to promote the unique benefits of working in the industry targeting people from the ages of 16 to 60.
On Deputy Munster's general question, as the Deputy will be aware, the matters around the living wage and the minimum wage are being led by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Deputy will have opportunities to engage with the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Varadkar, on that but the Government has followed through on the independent wage commission's report, which was published last year.
