Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. As he knows, Galway is a culture capital, known for its many festivals and cultural events, including the Galway Arts Festival, the Galway Races and the Film Fleadh. No matter what weekend people come to Galway, they will find a festival somewhere. The lack of staff will have a negative impact on tourism and the success of many of these festivals. Businesses are now trying to plan for the summer season, but they are limited by the difficulty of securing staff. I am aware of a restaurateur who went to Portugal and secured six staff on the condition that they be provided with accommodation, which that person was in a position to do.

I ask that the Taoiseach bring together the representatives of the State agencies, the restaurant associations, the Irish Hotels Federation and the vintners to look at this serious situation and to try to find solutions so that our economy can recover as quickly as possible. I acknowledge what the Taoiseach said about work permits, but hotels and restaurants cannot get many front-line staff, such as ordinary kitchen staff, waiters, waitresses and reception staff either. They cannot even get them within the EU, never mind outside it, because of the difficulties with work permits.

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