Results 3,401-3,420 of 10,372 for speaker:Niamh Smyth

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Niamh Smyth: I welcome our guests at what is a really good time to have them here. Their sector has been very much in the media over recent weeks and their organisations, and more importantly their publicans, are getting their feet on the ground again after two and a half very difficult years, so we are looking forward to hearing from them on that. We are joined by representatives from the Licensed...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Niamh Smyth: I thank Mr. O'Keeffe for his insightful and comprehensive presentation. I have no doubt but that my colleagues will have many questions. Before we start the question-and-answer session, I invite Mr. Paul Clancy from the VFI to make his presentation.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Niamh Smyth: I thank Mr. Clancy and appreciate his presentation. I am sure it will initiate many questions from my colleagues and members of the committee. The meeting is focusing on working conditions and the skills shortage, which have been addressed by the witnesses. I will now open the questioning from members, who have the speaking order in front of them, so they know where they are. I ask...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Niamh Smyth: Thank you. It is my turn now. To extrapolate from what was said in the presentations today, Mr. O'Keeffe, you answered the question I wanted to ask in your statement. You referred to the elimination of current silos across Departments and State agencies with regard to hospitality. You are saying there are so many aspects to it that it has fallen between many stools, and you want to see...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Niamh Smyth: That is coming to a point I was thinking of while you were speaking. For my generation, and I worked in a pub as a student when I was going to college, the pub was one of those part-time jobs. One did not think about it as a long-term career unless one grew up with the business or it was a family business, as Mr. Moynihan mentioned. It is great to see that shift and that now there is a...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Niamh Smyth: -----although I realise it has to be much broader than that. Where do you get your operations, general management and customer care people with the required skills set unless it is something they have been in already and have come up the ranks? I am guessing that if they are not there, you have lost them already.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Niamh Smyth: Yes.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Niamh Smyth: Mr. Clancy spoke about the apprenticeship piece and Griffith College. If that was being rolled out in further education around the country, there probably would be uptake for it. There is a generation of young people now who feel, and rightly so, that they do not just want to grow up in a business. They want to be given the skills set even if the family business is to be handed on to them....

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Niamh Smyth: The witnesses have alluded to Fáilte Ireland's campaign on it being an attractive industry to work in. Do we have any measure of the output from that?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Niamh Smyth: There will be analysis done I am sure.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Niamh Smyth: What kind of salary can someone who goes down that career path, does that degree and comes out expect starting out?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Niamh Smyth: It is not just the bar industry, hospitality, hotels and retail but the biggest issue facing anybody is recruitment and retention.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Niamh Smyth: Then we go back to Senator Carrigy's point about so many people being on the live register and how we try to address that. I thank Ms Kealy, Mr. O'Keeffe, Mr. Clancy and Mr. Moynihan for coming in. We appreciate it and we wish them luck in the times ahead. We appreciate that they are facing into difficult times. We will try to action the suggestions and recommendations the witnesses have...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Niamh Smyth: I am delighted to welcome the officials from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to continue the discussion on the working conditions and skills shortages in the hospitality sector. I welcome Mr. Cian Ó Lionáin, assistant secretary with responsibility for tourism and sport, and Mr. Bernard O'Shea, principal officer of the tourism service division. ...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Niamh Smyth: I thank Mr. Ó Lionáin. I invite Senator Byrne to speak first, as he is under pressure to return to the Seanad.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Niamh Smyth: I listened, as I am sure Mr. Ó Lionáin did too, to the interview on "Today with Claire Byrne" the other day when somebody reported having been quoted €300 per day to rent a car, amounting to almost €1,000 for three days. It was the owner of an artisanal food business. I did not catch the beginning of the interview but the man was making the point that there was no...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Niamh Smyth: My next question might be better directed at Mr. O'Shea. It relates to comments and observations the representatives of the sector made during the earlier session. They talked about Fáilte Ireland’s very successful efforts to encourage people to get involved in the sector in the context of recruitment. They felt that while the campaign is only just up and running, it has been...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Discussion (25 May 2022)

Niamh Smyth: I believe their point was more about promotion, to plant the idea in people's heads that this is something we should be considering.