Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like everyone else, I am delighted to be present on the day the sports capital grants are to be announced. It is a great achievement that the Government can partner many hundreds of sports groups around the country which do so much to help people to improve the levels of their physical activity.

Another sector that is doing exceptionally well is tourism, in particular the hotel and restaurant trades. In recent weeks we were all invited to a briefing across the road by the Restaurants Association of Ireland. It is very keen that an intensive training programme for people within the industry be established, similar to the CERT system, whereby they could be trained to fill the thousands of current vacancies. There will be more vacancies as the industry grows for chefs, sous-chefs and commis chefs and in other positions within the hospitality sector. Thousands of jobs can and will be created, but there is already a skills shortage which will become even greater in the immediate future as demand grows. I, therefore, urge the Government to consider the introduction of such a training programme in the budget to be announced next week. It must provide an incentive for third level institutions to work in this area. The Shannon College of Hotel Management which was part of Aer Rianta has a track record of achieving 100% graduate employment, which is an incredible achievement. Its graduates are sought all over the world as hotel managers. The college produces some of the best hotel managers in the world. There is scope for further courses and further institutions such as the one in Shannon focused on the hospitality sector because we have proved ourselves to be extremely good and capable in the area and should build on that reputation.