Call for creation of body to tackle poor working conditions in hospitality sector

The report makes 11 recommendations to Government and its first is the establishment of an independent body to oversee and have responsibility for Ireland’s hospitality sector.

A body with similar functions to Fáilte Ireland should be established for pubs and restaurants, a new report has recommended in the wake of evidence of “widespread poor pay and working conditions” in the sector.

The Oireachtas Tourism Committee has published a report on working conditions and skills shortages in Ireland’s tourism and hospitality sector, and made a slew of recommendations aimed at supporting the industry and the workers employed within it.

The report said there is a “growing body of evidence” that workers face real obstacles to a decent working life while the sector also faces difficulties reaching full complements of staff.

Issues highlighted to the committee included employment precarity, harmful workplace behaviour, lack of trade union access, and difficulties getting wages. 

It also heard that employers face acute staff shortages and are in need of a vast range of skills that they cannot attract from the domestic population.

Committee Cathaoirleach Niamh Smyth said that hotels, restaurants, pubs, and similar establishments are the “cornerstone of the céad míle fáilte offered to our visitors”.

“It is only logical, and it is only right, that State interventions are established to offer some remedy to the sector, and to place tourism and hospitality on equal footing with any other area of the economy.” 

Recommendations

The report makes 11 recommendations to Government and its first is the establishment of an independent body to oversee and have responsibility for Ireland’s hospitality sector, with similar functions to those of Fáilte Ireland within the tourism sector.

It also recommends, “as a matter of urgency”, that the Minister for Tourism engage with stakeholders to seek a workable solution to the legal issues that have shut down the Joint Labour Committees relating to tourism and hospitality.

This needs to be re-established “to provide a process for fixing statutory minimum rates of pay and conditions of employment for employees in these sectors, given the clear evidence presented to the Committee of widespread poor pay and working conditions in many parts of the tourism and hospitality sectors”, the committee said.

Delays in processing new work permits and visas should also be addressed, while it recommends increased resources for the Workplace Relations Commission to boost the number of inspections it conducts on tourism and hospitality businesses.

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A further recommendation to address skills shortages relates to visas and the availability of directly-relevant apprenticeships, traineeships, and third-level courses.

Ms Smyth added: “It is the Committee’s hope that these recommendations will be implemented so that Ireland’s tourism and hospitality sector can offer as much value to workers and employers as the sector offers to its citizens and to its guests.

“Every worker deserves fair compensation and decent conditions. Every employer deserves the necessary support and oversight to optimise its service, in addition to an adequately skilled workforce.”