John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for that. It is a really good question from my colleague, Deputy Bruton. Has the Minister any figures as to what skill sets people who are left claiming the PUP have? I am particularly interested in hospitality. Does the Department have details on that? Dublin is full of half-empty restaurants not because people do not want to book but because of the lack of capacity of the restaurants in question to meet the demand in respect of their kitchen staff. That is why many of the restaurants throughout the city and in the suburbs have vacant tables. It is because they simply cannot get staff. Can the Minister break down how many hospitality people are still claiming the PUP? I presume that is one of the gaps to which Deputy Bruton referred. How can we fill those gaps, encourage those people to return and facilitate employers to take them on?

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