Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the hospitality and tourism sector, the Chair will be aware that the Minister and I recently launched an initiative in the presence of the Irish Hotels Federation. The Chair asked about contacts and communications with the sector. Suffice it to say that it is regularly in contact with us and with the Department. This is against the backdrop, which we all know, of the sector being shut as a result of Covid. The opportunities in terms of placement and apprenticeships are limited but some of the focus has been on assisting the sector in retaining key staff and upskilling them into middle management and supervisory roles. The challenge for the sector when the economy ultimately reopens will revolve around the ability to get up to speed as quickly as possible. We are keen to ensure that it does not have a human capital deficit so we are trying to assist them to hold on to their key people. On the various offerings across our further education and training providers, we will get the committee a note to give it the helicopter view of what is available to the sector in terms of the various channels and providers.