Deputy O'Donnell received permission to raise on the Adjournment with the Minister for Tourism and Transport the question of the disastrous effects of the postal strike on the tourist industry and ancillary activities including mail order services.
Adjournment Debate. - Postal Dispute Effects on Tourism.
In the absence of any opportunity for a full-scale debate on the adverse effects of the prolonged postal dispute, I am availing myself of this opportunity, with your kind permission sir, to focus attention on the disastrous consequences of the postal dispute on a very important sector of the national economy, the tourist industry.
The tourist industry has made very dramatic strides over the past decades. It is now a very important element in national development and national progress. In 1978 that industry earned £181 million and the projections for 1979 were £201 million. The tourist industry in 1979 was poised to achieve a record-breaking year, reaching the magic £200 million figure. Over the past few days my attention has been drawn to the manner in which, unfortunately, the postal dispute has been affecting all sections of the tourist industry. I refer to hotels, guesthouses, the car hire industry, travel agencies, tour operators and the variety of activities which go to make up this very important national industry.
I have received reports from various parts of the country. I have taken the trouble to investigate the position over the past 24 hours. I have been shocked and horrified at the manner in which this very important national industry has been thrown into complete disarray. I have also been shocked at the possibility that, in the event of the postal dispute lasting even for another short while, the financial consequences for tourism in 1979 will be very serious indeed.
I know it is difficult to quantify this financially, but I have taken the trouble to try to investigate some of the effects on the tourist industry. It was estimated that it would yield £201 million in the current year. From all the information available to me I forecast that, in the event of the postal strike lasting for another week or ten days, the loss in tourism revenue for the current year will be of the order of £30 million to £40 million. That is the direct loss and, with the multiplier effect which applies to tourism, that loss can be multiplied by three or by four giving a national loss in the order of over £100 million.
One of the worst features of the postal dispute and the disruption in the telephone service is that many of our major tourism centres are located in areas which have had no post for the past ten weeks and no telephone service. Deputies will have read reports in newspapers yesterday from one region in west Kerry. I am aware of what is happening along the whole west coast up to Donegal. We are now at the end of what normally would have been the peak booking period. Promotion takes place from November to January and bookings come in from the end of January. This postal strike has coincided with the peak booking period. We are now at the start of a new tourist season and hoteliers and guesthouse owners do not know—and they have no way to ascertain—what their volume of business will be in the current year.
I have seen a report from the Irish Hoteliers' Federation—and inquiries I have made among hoteliers and others confirm this—that hotel bookings at this moment, facing 1 May, the summer season, are only one-third of what they were this time last year. If that is not final proof of the disastrous consequences of this dispute, I do not know what is. Not merely have booking been held up, but hoteliers do not know the volume of bookings they will have. Some people posted bookings a few days before the strike commenced. These bookings are held up in the post and people intending to come here on holidays do not know whether they have been accepted, and hoteliers do not know who have sent bookings.
The hotel industry and guesthouse owners and others provide substantial seasonal employment in areas where there is little alternative employment. As well as being confused over the number of their bookings, they do not know the number of staff to recruit. The hotels, during the course of the postal dispute, have not engaged in any promotional work abroad and this is bound to be reflected in tourism earnings. They have no method of cash collection, getting in deposits, and so on.
Another matter which has been drawn to my attention and which is ancillary to tourism and comes under the aegis of the Minister's Department is the mail order business. This business is an adjunct of tourism. It arises, directly or indirectly, largely as a result of tourists visiting this country. The Shannon Mail Order Store which has been built up over the years into a highly successful business will have lost, by the end of this week, over £1 million as a result of the postal strike. Approximate average earnings off season are £81,000 per week, going up to about £120,000 per week over the peak period of the tourist season. Over a ten week period that means £1 million has gone down the drain.
From the feedback I am receiving from hoteliers and guesthouse owners, and from travel agents and people who go abroad promoting Irish tourism, one of the vital elements in tourism development is good promotion work at home and overseas. Bord Fáilte have field staff in the UK, on the Continent of Europe and in North America who have done a tremendous job over the years. Now all their work down the years is being adversely affected, or certainly counteracted by the notices which are to be seen in every post office in the UK and Europe, and probably throughout the western world: "No letters or parcels being accepted for the Republic of Ireland."
I would like to yield some of my time to my colleague, Deputy M. O'Leary. The last aspect that I want to refer to is an area which could be described as indirect tourism. It grieves me very much to learn in the last 24 hours, as I am sure it grieves the Minister who spent a period in the same capacity as I did there, that the postal dispute has been utterly disastrous and a total calamity for the Gaeltacht summer schools which attract 18,000 young people per year and provide a very valuable source of revenue for Gaeltacht householders. We have now a Minister who has been specially designated as Minister for Tourism and Transport, and tourism has been identified in the Cabinet through a Minister as being a very important sector. Here we have the ironical situation of a Minister for Tourism and Transport who has special responsibility in relation to tourism faced with the prospect of seeing the work of years going for naught in loss of employment and loss of revenue directly to many hoteliers and guesthouse owners who have invested substantial sums of money in developing their business and who provide substantial seasonal employment, and in some cases all-the-year-round employment.
This effect on the tourist industry and ancillary activities such as mail orders, the Gaeltacht summer colleges, tour operators and car-hire firms is one of the many aspects of the disastrous consequences of what can be described as the worst and most calamitous industrial relations episode in the history of this State. In the normal way I would be appealing to the Minister for Tourism and Transport to bring the matter to the attention of his colleague, the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs. In view of the fact that the same person occupies the two posts I say to him that this is an appalling tragedy which could have been averted if the Minister in his capacity as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs would depart from his rigid stance——
The Deputy is getting into the field of the strike now. We cannot discuss the strike on this question. We are dealing only with its effect on tourism.
I agree with Deputy O'Donnell that the effects of the strike on tourism can be described without exaggeration as disastrous. It is all the more incomprehensible that these disastrous effects should be allowed to continue when one appreciates that what is apparent has been apparent for some time now, that a compromise figure would settle this dispute.
Deputy O'Leary is starting already to debate the strike. We are not debating the strike on this question.
We are talking about the effects of this strike.
The Deputy is putting up solutions to the strike and that does not arise on the question.
It is bad for this House if we cannot debate solutions to the strike.
Not on this question.
The Minister for Tourism and Transport, the alter ego of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, has allowed himself to become the prisoner of procedures when his clear administrative duty as head of the Post Office is to seek an end to the dispute. The effect on the tourist industry can be described as disastrous. This is the order season. I ask the Minister for Tourism and Transport to speak to his other half during his sleeping hours and confide to him some method by which some settlement could be arrived at in this dispute now in its 10th week. Tourism, a difficult industry in itself, faces the breaking down of the whole telex system on which industry depends. The stratagems to which the hotel industry has resorted mean that tours have been interrupted. Tourist markets have been built up carefully over the years. Orders have been displaced and ruin is facing many people in the hotel industry. When the communications system of a State is cut off, as ours is, it is obvious that certain adverse consequences follow. In what other EEC state would a communications strike of this length be tolerated without every effort being made to bring it to an end?
One way which has been suggested from the very start is the direct meeting. Obviously, that is the requirement.
Again ——
I respect the Chair. We cannot go into that because of the rules of procedure.
Since the Deputy started to speak he is moving in on that area. I ask him to stay on the question which is before the House.
This continued dispute carries with it further damaging consequences for both industry and tourism. The loss which the country is facing will have to be made up for by the taxpayer eventually. There will be a settlement eventually and at a figure which would settle it now. That is the absurdity of the present situation. There is a compromise figure.
The Deputy is not discussing the question before the House and he does not intend to. I ask him not to continue on those lines.
The Post Office Workers' Union have sought such a meeting with a view to a possible compromise.
That does not arise on this question. Deputy O'Leary should not have got in on the question to raise the question of the dispute. That is not the question before the House.
It strains credulity that this Parliament should not be discussing ways of ending the dispute in the course of such a debate as this. We are discussing its impact on the tourist industry. That impact would be lessened and the problems would be removed if we could get a solution to the dispute. However, Sir, I accept your ruling that we cannot go into the steps that would lead to an end to it. Some kind of inertia has apparently overtaken the Department which has impeded their efforts to get a settlement. There are complex factors at the heart of this dispute. At least it can be said that the Minister for Tourism and Transport has not overconcerned himself to the extent of seeking a settlement in his capacity as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when he considers the effects this strike must be having on tourism. We shall know only at the end of this season what the effect on tourism will have been. Only at the end of the season will the hoteliers be able to sum up what their losses have been. Last year was a record one for tourism, we are told. The position of sterling itself assisted. This year we must surely be joining the Guinness joke league of countries in the EEC when we consider the length of this dispute and the fact that it has been tolerated with so little effort to get a settlement over its ten weeks.
When a strike lasts so long a settlement becomes ever more difficult. A compromise has been referred to by one of the parties in this dispute. Surely it is not too much that the Minister for Tourism and Transport would speak to his colleague, the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, and ask him not to allow himself to become the total prisoner of procedures in this matter.
Deputy O'Donnell raised the question and he stayed on it for 15 minutes. He gave Deputy O'Leary five minutes to follow on the same question. Deputy O'Leary insists on staying on the dispute and not on the question before the House.
This dispute is affecting the tourist industry; Deputy O'Donnell will agree with me on that. The Minister will agree that the Opposition throughout this dispute have attempted to be as constructive as possible under the circumstances. I am urging on the present Minister that he speak to his near companion, the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, and try to persuade that member of the Cabinet that there is ample material at this moment in this dispute for settlement. We do not have to wait another two months or another day. The settlement material is there. The compromises have been referred to by the POWU and a figure would settle it now.
I do not need Deputy O'Donnell or Deputy O'Leary to tell me what the effects of the strike are. From the outset I have made it quite clear both in this House and in the media that the strike would cause serious inconvenience and hardship to the community as a whole. The strike is putting jobs at risk and is hampering the Government's job creation programme.
It is generally recognised that I have played a very worthwhile part in the development of tourism since I became Minister for Tourism. It is also recognised by the tourist industry. Quite obviously, I am concerned at anything that may cause problems for that industry. The strike is causing difficulties in many sectors and the tourist industry is not exception. Every effort is being made by the industry through the various Bord Fáilte offices through the services of the regional tourism organisations to minimise the difficulties and to try to alleviate the problems. We recognise that these problems are there and every effort is being made to overcome them.
I do not propose to go into the background of the dispute as I did that on a number of occasions. As the House is aware, I undertook in advance to accept the results of independent arbitration on the Post Office Workers' Union's current claims. Wherever these claims are shown to be justified by the arbitrator I will ask the public to bear the cost.
Will the Minister accept the office of mediator?
I have agreed to independent assessors appointed by the Employer-Labour Conference. The Congress of Trade Unions have agreed to place all the expert advice they have in relation to assessing the value of productivity at the disposal of the union. I stated that so far as the conciliation council is concerned I would agree to have an independent mediator chair the conciliation council and that I would ask my representative on that council to withdraw. The House will be aware that the Irish Congress of Trade Unions have been making every effort to find a basis for a resumption of work satisfactory to both parties. I welcome the ICTU initiative and I appreciate the efforts of the ICTU representatives. After discussions, the congress issued a set of recommendations which provide for normal work to resume and for negotiations on the union's claims to be restarted straight away. The negotiations are to be concluded within a period of two months and are to be conducted, if the union so wishes, under the chairmanship of an independent mediator.
I presume that neither Deputy O'Donnell nor Deputy O'Leary would wish to contend that the congress would be a party to proposals which would be injurious to any union's interest or to imply that they know better than congress how this dispute should be settled. They asked me on a number of occasions to intervene personally and I wish them to know that I always involve myself closely with industrial relations in the Department and I have been closely involved in this case in all the congress efforts to secure a resumption of work. We are dealing with a very difficult problem which is having and will continue to have serious effects on the economy. If this were a simple matter it could have been solved long ago. I can understand and appreciate the desire of many people to have the strike settled at all costs—people who are under severe pressure because of the strike, who are not in a position to apprecaite the consequences and who believe that the future will look after itself. I am afraid the future will not look after itself. It will be determined to quite an extent by our actions. To think otherwise is to delude ourselves.
When the agreed procedures are broken down there are no structures within which we can negotiate, no structures on which we can reach a settlement. Deputy O'Leary suggested that I was a prisoner of procedures. The fact is that this conciliation and arbitration scheme is being used effectively by all the unions in the public service and none of the unions, including the union in question, wishes to damage these procedures. Perhaps they would like them improved or modified. There is no problem there if we can get agreement. Deputy O'Leary is well aware of that. I can understand and sympathise with people who are under severe pressure, who think that there is a relatively simple way of dealing with this problem.
On the other hand, I very much regret that there are others who are very well aware of the catastrophic consequences that could flow from the abandonment of the conciliation and arbitration scheme in this case for all the people working in the public service and for the public generally who would have to meet the cost. These people persist in trying to make a political football out of a very grave situation. I regret that we find a situation where, for example, we have statements by former Ministers in the Coalition Government in relation to these agreements when in fact the Coalition Government insisted on the observance of these agreements. We should all realise that the embargo placed by the Coalition Government on special increases was a large contributory factor to the discontent which gave rise to the problem we have today.
My objective is to treat the staff of the Department in an equitable and fair manner. I recognise that I have a special responsibility to them and I am doing everything in my power to encourage them to return to the negotiating table. I can assure them that, if they do so, their claims and problems will be given urgent and sympathetic consideration. I appeal earnestly to them to adopt this course in their interests and in the national interest.
The Dáil adjourned at 5.30 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 1 May 1979.