The employment crisis in the hospitality sector.

The industry is also subsidised by the taxpayer through social welfare, thousands of people in hospitality on low pay qualify for the Family Income Supplement payment. Its basically the government admitting that the industry pays so badly that they have to top up employees wages in order for them to survive.

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/social_welfare_payments_to_families_and_children/family_income_supplement.html

But your assumption is that every hospitality owner is greedy.

Whereas in reality is that it's a very tight margin industry very exposed to market changes, with a customer base that are very price aware.

But yeah sure go ahead, fcuk them, let's shink the industry instead of trying to grow it, let's put plenty of people out of work, let's put supplier and all the ancillary parts of the economy that go with hospitality on the back foot.

Not every pub owner is.. but my local as I’ve said, prices have skyrocketed, both food and drinks, pints are six, main course about 15 …yet the owners last year bought their 6th pub… the Independent reporting this city centre popular spot was sold to them for 3 million…

meanwhile we are supposed to feel sorry for them.

If they cant afford to pay their staff enough then they shouldnt be in business. Let them close up and sell the premises to someone else who can make use of it without relying on government handouts to pay their staff.

I don't see why hospitality businesses should be treated any better than any other business. If a construction site wasnt paying workers enough would you be defending them? Or a factor? Or a call centre? Why are pubs and restaurants treated by you like a sacred cow?

Vat decrease has been passed on to the public and the public love it, no surprise there.

Regardless of what people say around here MUP is not about pubs.

Many industries turn a blind eye to work practices, nursing homes, meat packing for example.

I was looking for specific supports they get not things they do and get away with.

Is there a specific hospitality visa for South Americans to come to Ireland ?

your situation don’t add up, paying staff a fair wage, and charging fair prices for products and services does not mean they’ll be closing pubs especially after spending 3 million on the 6th one ….

The other thing is that the hospitality "market" is only shrinking because of costs - a weaker currency (not within our control) or a lower cost of living would make it affordable to pay everyone less, and also mean cheaper inputs, and peoples purchasing power remains the same. The end result is tourism to ireland is more attractive and competitive worldwide, we get more tourists, and hospitality sector gets more business providing more opportunities for staff.

It's not a new idea - countries like Spain, Portugal and Greece have all been doing this for decades. Keeping the cost of living down aggressively fuels a tourism boom (although those countries also benefit from climate) - likes of Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria all benefit from low cost of living driving western tourism there also, without the sunny med climate.

VAT decrease pocketed by many business owners. When the original VAT decrease came in at the beginning of the pandemic a local coffee shop didn't change its price. Then when the VAT rate was restored he had signs up saying "price increase due to increased VAT rate". Money for jam for that coffee shop.

Yep he used the VAT changes to increase his price and therefore his net take. Coffee was €3, should have reduced to say €2.85, he left it at €3 and paid less VAT to Revenue, then increased to say €3.20 rather than restore to the original €3.

No mocking from me about McDonalds.

I had heard about their better than average employment conditions.

I note that Supermacs seem to charge more than McDonald's, and yet Pat McDonagh with millions of profit is complaining that he can't get staff.

We had lockdowns the last 2 years , pubs pay rent, insurance and they were closed for months, tourists stopped travelling to Ireland, of course they could not make a profit. Most of the cafes I used to go are no longer in business . I don't think you can compare Spain vs Ireland, id say taxs, insurances, wages are higher in Ireland I don't think anyone travels to Ireland for a low cost holiday

One example there's a cafe shop in temple bar it opened in 1974 it closed about 8 months ago. Most business can't continue when the government started the lockdown and they had no customers no income

when the pandemic started alot of low pay workers left Ireland to go back to Poland or other EU countrys etc and they never came back retail and cafes mainly rely on nonnational workers I do,nt think its incompetence no one predicted a world wide pandemic I don't really know why anyone works as a chef as the work seems to involve working long hours every week for not great wages

Most offices are still closed so of course it means there's not so many customers for certain shops or cafe s who rely on workers spending lunchtime there

The only thing PUP did to support anyone was the staff, who were dropped like bad habits at the start and throughout the Pandemic. It is well known, few hospitality Employers availed of wage subsidies which would have helped at least retain some staff. I've a fair idea as to why employers in this sector avoided wage subsidy schemes.

When sector reopened the same employers then claimed PUP was the reason few employees were returning, this was roundly discredited,, it was infact the case most former employees had actually left the industry and others had left the country entirely.

The Sector has only itself to blame and the crocodile Tears have become quite Tiresome.

I've absolutely no doubt employers foolishly thought they'll re hire easily, attract foreign workers but didn't factor in the lack of accommodation, Lack of interest and a collective two fingers to the Industry which has been acting the B****X for years.

No we judt dont want to be ripped off.

7.50 for a bowl of tomato soup

11 euros club sambo

8 euros pot of tea.

Even aside from the staffing crisis, which the sector is entirely to blame for, there's also other matters determining viability that few people are discussing.

Personally I believe and with some experience, a lot of Restaurants, particularly those leased are and have not been viable for quite some time. The Pandemic exposed a lot of vulnerabilities and whilst some will argue government supports made sense they actually created a false economy, propping up business that were just in reality unviable.

There's enormous Revenue Debts warehoused, Substantial Rental Debts owed , Suppliers struggling to get paid and reducing credit terms and of course staffing crisis. I predict a lot of closures in the coming months, already court cases have commenced and there's still un resolved insurance claims, notwithstanding additional insurance and enormous increase in utility and operating costs.

Whilst no one could have predicted the Pandemic the sector was already fragile and I don't believe has recovered from the pandemic, in essence Government supports (and be under no illusions) were Substantial and perhaps necessary to an extent given the uncertainty, but there's a harsh reality and that is , these supports, warehousing of Debts have in essence only prolonged the inevitable, the closing of many, many unviable Restaurants and Pubs.

So many people reporting that the root cause of staff shortages are poor pay, conditions like changing shift hours and lack of loyalty to staff. I'm sure it doesn't apply throughout the sector and there are good employers who value their staff. But clear also that many have become used to treating their workers as cheap and disposable.