Jazz hotel in recruitment drive as industry calls for Covid recovery supports

The Metropole wants to hire experienced bar and floor staff, as well as cloakroom and cleaning attendants at an open recruitment day on October 12 and 13

With the last remaining Covid-19 restrictions due to be lifted on October 22, when rules on physical distancing and mask-wearing in most circumstances will lapse, the hotel plans to “manage capacity” at the Metropole for the jazz weekend. Picture: Clare Keogh

The spiritual home of the Cork Jazz Festival has launched a major recruitment drive for staff for what will be the first major festival in Ireland once all Covid restrictions are lifted.

The Metropole Hotel, the festival headquarters since the music event was founded there in October 1978, hopes to hire up to 50 people to work as part of its jazz team across the festival bank holiday weekend from October 22-25.

With the last remaining Covid-19 restrictions due to be lifted on October 22, when rules on physical distancing and mask-wearing in most circumstances will lapse, Aaron Mansworth, the managing director of the Trigon Hotel Group, said they still plan to “manage capacity” at the Metropole for the jazz weekend.

“We are waiting on some final public health guidance but given that this will be the first weekend coming out of all pandemic restrictions, we want to ensure that people feel comfortable coming to the hotel,” he said.

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"Traditionally, many of those hired to work for the jazz weekend are kept on to work in the run-up to Christmas.

The Metropole wants to hire experienced bar and floor staff, as well as cloakroom and cleaning attendants. It will host an open recruitment day at the hotel on October 12 and 13 from 5pm-7pm.

The recruitment drive comes amid mounting calls from the hospitality industry for state support to help it recover post-Covid.

The Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI) says weakened tourism demand will see employment in the sector contract next year by an estimated 40,000 jobs - down from 180,000 in last quarter of 2019 to 140,000, with 6,730 fewer people working in the sector in Kerry and Cork alone.

Of those 40,000, some 12,700 are 15 to 24-year-olds and almost 22,000 are women. DIGI has called for a 7.5% reduction in excise tax in next month’s budget to help the industry weather the difficult trading environment.

“Ireland has the highest excise on wine, the second-highest on beer, and the third-highest on spirits,” said Liam Reid, chair of DIGI and corporate Relations Director at Diageo Ireland.

"A pint of beer served in a German bar is levied with just 5c of excise compared to 55 cents in Ireland. In France, a glass of wine has an excise tax of just 1c, and in Italy and Spain zero.

“In Italy, excise tax on a 70cl bottle of Irish whiskey, which is €2.90, is lower than the excise tax on a bottle of Irish whiskey produced and sold in Ireland, where it is €11.92.

The Restaurants Association of Ireland has also called for a raft of budgetary measures, including a reduction in alcohol excise by 7.5%, a real-time voucher scheme similar to the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, and an extension of waivers of commercial rates and street furniture licences, to help the sector recover.

Its CEO, Adrian Cummins, said their members, have been “economically flattened” by the necessary public health restrictions over the last 18 months.

“Continued wage supports are vital for the sector as the good weather and staycations end," he said.

“Financial supports to enable the sector to re-employ staff and adapt and grow until international tourism returns are paramount to ensuring the continued survival of the hospitality sector, a vital element of our domestic and international tourism offering.”