Mr. Donall O'Keeffe:

We thank the Chairman and members for the opportunity to appear before the committee regarding what is now the single most important challenge for the Dublin licensed trade. We are represented by our chairperson, Ms Alison Kealy, who is just three weeks into her tenure, and me as CEO. We acknowledge the committee and the Government for their support for the hospitality sector throughout the pandemic. Without that financial support, we simply could not have survived. We very much welcome the recent Government decision to extend the 9% VAT rate to February 2023. This is a really significant support as we rebuild our industry.

It is widely accepted that the hospitality sector, and pubs in particular, was among the sectors hardest hit by Covid. One of the direct impacts has been the considerable loss of staff, whether through international staff returning home or staff leaving the licensed trade to work in other sectors, such as retail, distribution or construction. Two years of closures and restrictions has had a devastating impact on staff retention in our sector.

Some 79% of our members reported that uncertainty about the future of the pub trade was the main reason for losing staff. In all, we estimate that about one third of our staff have departed the sector. Given the shortages of skilled staff that existed pre-Covid, the loss of chefs, managers and senior bar staff from our sector during Covid has made a difficult situation all the more challenging. While we are encouraged by the level of business since we reopened, it is fair to say that staff availability is now the biggest inhibiting factor to full recovery.

We have provided the committee with a comprehensive submission setting out our views in full. Based on our own member survey, some of the key business impacts of the shortage of staff include a reduced number of trading hours - due to later opening - and trading days. Some 88% of members reported staff recruitment as a serious difficulty, while 89% of members worried about staff shortages in 2022. The particular skills gaps that we identified are around general management, operations, customer care and event management. In terms of attracting staff to work in the sector, we must focus on what workers themselves see as the key reasons to work in hospitality. The Fáilte Ireland research found these to be a passion for a particular skilled job, with 66% of chefs noting this; a passion for working with people, which is the core of hospitality; seeing it as a long-term career, as mentioned by 71% of respondents; flexible hours, particularly for women; and generally enjoying the working environment. To this end, we are encouraged by the launch of the Fáilte Ireland tourism careers marketing campaign but feel it should be widened to expressly include hospitality as well as tourism. For its part, the LVA supports its members through the provision of a full-time HR advisory service run by a highly experienced HR professional; the LVA-designed diploma in bar and food management, which provides 60 hours of training; the running of seminars, workshops and conferences; and the provision of an employee assistance programme for staff. Looking ahead, in an economy nearing full employment, we believe the following policy developments are required to address the skills shortages in our sector.

We are calling on the Government and State agencies to complete a review of the efficacy of the work permit scheme to boost skills and supply staff more efficiently, as we do not believe it is fit for purpose for hospitality currently. The process itself and processing times are very inefficient. We are calling for a clear designation and establishment of a hospitality training division within an existing State agency, potentially Fáilte Ireland, and the elimination of current silos across Departments and State agencies with regard to hospitality. We ask what Department and which State agency is responsible for hospitality. The short-term immediate priorities of the tourism and hospitality careers oversight group, COG, make a lot of sense to us but the group's longer-term strategy must be finalised this year. Critically, its policy recommendations must be funded for the medium-term supply of skills. An independent chair with an appropriate budget would facilitate that. In the longer term, sustained Fáilte Ireland investment in marketing of hospitality and tourism careers is also required. The hospitality sector itself also has a role to play. We must build and market career benefits, invest in the training and development of staff, improve conditions over time, and highlight the flexibility available. We all know that good employers will always attract the best talent.

In conclusion, the shortage of hospitality staff and management skills is the biggest barrier to the rebuilding of the pub sector. A longer-term State strategy for hospitality skills, which is adequately resourced and funded, is now imperative. I thank the committee for the opportunity to present our views. We welcome any questions members may have.