Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My father worked for 40 years as a hotel porter-concierge. My uncle has worked for more than 50 years in the hospitality sector. My experiences of the sector have always been positive. There are some fantastic employers in the industry. When I travel the country meeting people in the hospitality sector, what I hear overwhelmingly from some of the 260,000 people employed in the industry is positive. We need to weed out the bad employers who are not giving the people working at the front line the terms and conditions they deserve but it would be dangerous for us to generalise. When we are making such an effort to attract skilled workers into the industry and grow careers in the tourism and hospitality sector, it would be unfair if we were to talk down the sector. I am not saying that is what the Senator is saying but we need to be careful about the way we talk about this sector and that we would not generalise. I look forward to reading that report in detail but I have other evidence that suggests people working in the industry are making a good living and doing very well out of it. Employment is generated through this industry in every community throughout the country, therefore, it is important we would not generalise. My personal and family experience of the hospitality sector has been a very positive one.

The development of greenways is critically important. We want there to be more investment in greenways. We have announced our first tranche of them. I have always felt they should be called "goldways". There is a major economic spin-off from them. Many other suggestions were made but, unfortunately, the time available for me to respond is not adequate. Perhaps that could be revisited when so many Senators have made contributions. All their contributions have been noted. I will be following up in detail on all the suggestions that were made. I am very keen to ensure we grow but also protect the industry. If we do not grow it sustainably and protect it into the future, our children and grandchildren will not benefit from it in the same way communities throughout the country benefit from it. There is no reason we cannot grow the 260,000 employed in the sector to well beyond 300,000 in the years ahead and keeping the figure above the 260,000 employed in it is the key challenge. We can never return to the boom and bust cycle for tourism. That is why I am very keen that the sustainability ethos would be applied to everything we do into the future. I thank the Acting Chairman for the time provided for me to come into the House to discuss this sector.