Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and acknowledging the strong support the Government has given to the hospitality sector because, without question, it was a major victim as a sector as a result of Covid-19. It had a horrendous time during the two years of Covid-19. The Government allocated a record level of funding for tourism in budget 2022, of €288 million in total, which was an increase of about €67 million. That covered marketing strategies, with €80 million for the Tourism Ireland programme to strengthen its international campaigns.

We are responding to labour shortages through a combination of the employment permits regime and through upskilling, especially with training in the further education sector. The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science is working closely with the Department of Social Protection on the Pathways to Work plan to do everything possible.

A number of occupations in the hospitality sector have been removed from the ineligible occupations list and are eligible for the general employment permit. Access to employment permits was widened for all grades of chef in 2019, including experienced executive chefs, head chefs, sous chefs, commis chefs and so on. They can all now apply for a general employment permit to work in a restaurant at a remuneration level of at least €30,000.

In 2021, 400 employment permits for chefs were expedited to support the sector as the economy reopened. In October 2021, the Minister of State, Deputy English, established a quota for 350 general employment permits for managerial roles in the hospitality sector, including catering, bar, hotel and accommodation managers. The demand for those permits is low. I accept that it is higher for chefs. Approximately 1,096 employment permits have been issued to chefs since January 2021. Some 1,079 were general employment permits, six were critical employment permits and 11 were reactivation permits. There are currently about 827 chef applications in the queue, awaiting processing, with 749 in the standard queue and 78 in the trusted partner queue. We will do everything we can to accelerate the work permit process to meet a genuine shortage in the hospitality sector. There is no doubt about that.

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