Publican under fire for saying staff in his bars should be Irish

The Immigrant Council of Ireland has hit out at comments by publican Charlie Chawke that front-of-house staff in his bars should be Irish.

Mr Chawke, who owns nine pubs, said that front-of-house staff at his premises “have to be Irish” to show that the “céad míle fáilte is still alive and well”.

“I believe it is essential to have Irish staff behind the bar or on the floor because they have the blás and the personality to get on with customers,” he said. “Irish staff know what is going on in Croke Park or in the rugby or what is happening around the country.”

Jerry O’Connor of the Immigrant Council hit out at Mr Chawke’s comments, saying the ability to extend a ‘céad míle fáilte’ is not something unique to people born in Ireland.

“While the traditional Irish pub is world-famous, many have benefited from the talents, skills, and hospitality of staff from across the globe,” he said.

Mr O’Connor pointed out that a large section of Irish society is made up of people who were not born here, and to exclude anybody from a certain sector of employment due to their nationality is illegal.

“A total of 17% of people who call Ireland home were born in another country,” he said. “To suggest they should be excluded from employment in hospitality, or any other sector, is not only wrong but, if implemented by any employer, on the basis of nationality, would be illegal.”

On RTÉ radio yesterday, Mr Chawke defended his position but said he had been “misquoted a bit” in newspaper reports.

“What I meant was, I like to have Irish people on my premises meeting, greeting, and seating people because it has been well established by Bord Fáilte and others that, when people come to Dublin or Ireland, they want to visit the Irish pub and I do believe, and it’s a formula that I’ve worked on, is what they really mean is they want to meet Irish people and they want to engage with them,” he said.

Mr Chawke said he employs plenty non-Irish people but that they could not give the same welcome to tourists “in the same tongue, the same language”.

“They do their job and they do it very well for me and I have lots of them employed,” he said. “It’s not that I don’t wish to employ foreign people. Of course I do. They are wonderful as well and they do a great job for me.”