Mr. Liam Edwards:

The RAI's big gripe with EHOs is the inconsistencies in their reports. The reports do not cost money directly but they result in indirect costs. There is a great deal of inconsistency even within counties. For example, many members have a couple of restaurants.

They may own restaurants that are two miles away from each other and they are told to do one thing in one restaurant and another thing in the other restaurant so there are big discrepancies. That is the big gripe and costs occur.

I hope everyone in the room would agree that the standard and quality of food in the restaurant industry has improved dramatically in the past couple of years. As an association, we feel it has. It has improved despite a shortage of skilled staff. In-house training has been huge in our industry. A lot of chefs have taken on kitchen porters and trained them slowly to become commis chefs or second chefs. Many become fully qualified chefs and some even have their own businesses. The other success has been chef-owners who, because there was a shortage of skills, decided they would own their own restaurants. That is what Mr. Cummins spoke about. When restaurants close on Mondays and Tuesdays, it is because a lot of chef-owners make a life choice to close on a Monday and Tuesday and to give all their staff those days off so they are all refreshed coming back on Wednesday. That is food productivity. It is what restaurants are doing now. That is why they are surviving and why there is a good standard of food around Ireland.