Hospitality sector wants eight weeks' notice of reopening to hire staff

Representatives from the hospitality sector said pubs serving food and so-called 'wet pubs' should be allowed to reopen at the same time when restrictions are eased.

Restaurants, hotels and pubs say they will need eight weeks' notice to allow them recruit and train the staff needed to reopen.

Two organisations representing publicans have also called on the Government to set out the percentage of the population that would have to be vaccinated before they can start trading again.

Hitting out at the mixed messages coming from the Government, the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) and the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI) said this target would provide more hope and certainty to businesses than a simple date for reopening that could be postponed.

Representatives from the hospitality sector said pubs serving food and so-called "wet pubs" should be allowed to reopen at the same time when restrictions are eased.

“Given the extended closure our sector has endured, the pub trade could not countenance any further separation between food pubs and wet pubs,” the LVA said.

The Oireachtas Tourism Committee was told the hospitality sector had lost significant numbers of staff, who have moved into retail, distribution and construction since restaurants and bars closed as a result of the pandemic.

Recruit and train new staff

Noel Anderson, who runs gastropubs in Dublin, said he would have to recruit and train new staff before he can reopen.

I had 70 staff for the start of this and then had the unenviable task of letting 70 people go three times in a year. 

To put some real sort of picture on what's actually happening on the ground, I lost my head chef in The Bridge 1859 to become a carpenter and the guy I replaced him with is now leaving me and he's going to become a full-time truck driver.

"I might retain a third of my staff and have to replace the other two thirds with new staff and retrain them," said Mr Anderson.

Restaurants Association of Ireland chief executive Adrian Cummins said a national hospitality and tourism directorate was now needed.

"In order for us to get our industry back up and running, we need about eight weeks' notice so that we get people on rosters retrained, reskilled up-skilled, whatever we need because we've lost so many people within our industry," Mr Cummins told the Oireachtas Tourism Committee.

This was echoed by president of the Irish Hotels Federation Elaina Fitzgerald Kane, who said there had been a "tsunami of people" leaving the industry since Covid.

Skills shortages

She said even prior to the pandemic it had been very difficult to recruit and retain qualified chefs due to skills shortages, but now businesses are also finding it challenging to keep food service staff, accommodation staff and office staff.

"To be fair, there's a considerable amount of work going on in terms of front-loading, upskilling and cross-selling opportunities. But I don't believe that it's going to be enough. Ideally, we need six to eight weeks' lead-in," she said about the reopening of the sector.

VFI chief executive Padraig Cribben said pub owners were not suggesting that the Government should give a date for re-opening, but said providing some indication of the level of vaccination coverage that would be required or providing community transmission targets to aim for would be very helpful.