Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister recognises that County Kerry is definitely the tourism capital of Ireland. That is an undisputed fact. Yet, we have a problem at the moment, which is workers. Businesses, in particular, small businesses in our tourism sector, such as in pubs, restaurants, shops and hotels have a difficulty. I am sure that difficulty is probably reflected throughout the rest of the country, but I am talking about County Kerry. It may be the cost of going to work that has gone wrong or it may come down to the availability of workers, but we have a situation that I have never seen before. Excellent places that provide an excellent service are now, instead of being open seven days and seven nights, open for three nights or four nights, because they cannot get staff for the other nights. I respectfully ask the Minister and the Government what, if anything, can be done to try to rectify this and put it right. It is a shame to think of businesses that can provide a good service not being able to do so because of a lack of workers.

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