Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senators for their contributions. I want to especially thank Senator Casey, who had not intended to be here. I would have fully expected him to be here because I know how passionate he is about this sector, and as he said, he has given decades of service to it as a front-line member of staff and employer.We have to be very careful about making sweeping statements and about the language we might use around this topic. The Minister has pointed to it, the committee has said it and, for the sake of clarity, I am going to say it again. Fáilte Ireland’s Tourism Careers and Labour Research report, published in October 2022, draws on interviews with more than 3,500 employees in the sector and up to 800 employers. Findings from this report show positive progress toward favourable conditions in the sector, with approximately 70% of businesses increasing pay and providing more flexible work patterns and more sustainable and predictable work schedules to their existing staff and new recruits.

Without the employers, we have no sector and no industry. That is very important. As Senator Casey rightly pointed out, employees going into this sector are very much aware of the fact that it is not perhaps the most family-friendly business to be in, no more than politics, but it may be their passion and love. Any of us going into that sector would know it is not nine-to-five and there are late hours, in particular for those who live in constituencies such as Cavan-Monaghan or Wicklow. It is unsociable, with work at weekends, at night and all the rest. We have to be mindful of that and mindful of the language we use around it.

I want to pick up on something said by Senator Murphy, who was the only one who brought it up in the House but it struck me as well. The Riverfront Hotel in Virginia, County Cavan is a lovely boutique hotel with a lovely restaurant. It has a blackboard inside the door, which particularly struck me after the pandemic. I may not be exactly right on what the sign said but it was something like: “There is a staff shortage across the world so please be kind to those who show up.” That is exactly the point that Senator Murphy was trying to make. We have to respect and value the staff who are working in that sector and be mindful of that.

I have to take up something with one Senator. It was a sweeping statement to make that almost sullied the reputation of some of the organisations that have presented many times to our committee. Any of my colleagues who sit on that committee would say that the IHF, RAI, and I think he may have brought the vintners into that too, have gone out of their way to prevent the-----