Ms Tracey Donnery:

At Skillnet Ireland we have a lot of networks already operating in this space. For example we have a restaurant skillnet and this year we have launched a new hospitality skillnet with the Irish Hotels Federation because despite there being issues, a lot of companies are using this time to upskill their employees. As Dr. Trant said there, this relates both to developing the management skills but also to the skills of the staff. We also have a skillnet in the fitness and leisure sector, which is part of this wider sector. The key supports which we have found to be very beneficial to the sector this year include our mentors work programme. It is dedicated to supporting leaders, owners and SMEs in re-examining their business models, looking to shift business online, looking at either of the pillars of financing their business, their people, operational efficiencies or digitalisation. There has been a high take-up among businesses within that sector. We have also seen great collaboration from some in the sector, such as the Restaurant Association of Ireland and others, which are working together to develop programmes which will help the businesses be ready for reopening. Our ReBound programme was also very valuable and had great take-up, particularly with helping businesses be ready to ensure their staff would be safe when they had an opportunity to reopen last year.

We have a lot going on in that regard.

We also find that across all our regional networks, which are mixed sectoral networks, they are putting in place many supports to help the staff from the hospitality sector to develop their skills to allow them move to another sector while there are opportunities. Also, there are many women in this area, some of whom are part-time workers. They have been able to upskill and equip themselves to be ready to take on a job in a new area, for example, medical technology or technology. Luckily, all of those networks are still going strong and still finding great demand from the businesses to upskill their staff. We are providing them with supports to keep that going.