Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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185. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the supports available for the hospitality sector which is struggling to recover its staff levels from pre-pandemic levels; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20949/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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'Pathways to Work 2021 – 2025’ outlines the Government’s national employment services strategy to support those who have lost jobs, or who are otherwise unemployed, find new jobs. The second strand of the Pathways strategy, ‘Working for Employers,’ focuses on helping employers hire workers and to encourage recruitment of unemployed jobseekers.

I am acutely aware of reports of labour and skill shortages in some sectors, which I appreciate is a particular concern in the hospitality sector. It is, however, important for employers to be aware that, alongside these skills shortages, there remains a pool of labour available with approximately 179,001 people on the Live Register as of last week. To support the recruitment by employers of jobseekers into vacancies, there are a range of supports available to employers to support their recruitment. These include JobsPlus, Wage Subsidy Scheme for People with Disabilities and the Work Placement Experience Programme. These initiatives provide valuable subsidies to business and I urge employers in the hospitality and other sectors to avail of them.

Intreo has a dedicated Employer Relations team operating across the country. The team support recruitment and sectoral engagement with employers, promotes awareness of Intreo schemes and programmes available to employers. They also provides a EURES service to assist in recruitment across the EU/EEA, works with the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland with other stakeholders to support cross border employment mobility. The team coordinates the work placement employment programme and delivers the jobsireland.ie recruitment portal and web service. The team also organise the recruitment campaigns for sector or specific roles and deliver recruitment events, large job fairs and Information roadshows.

The Employer Relations team engages with employers at a sectoral level by representing the department at various sectoral working groups including the Tourism and Hospitality Careers Oversight Group. Engaging individually with employers, as well as through sectoral groups, such as the Irish Hotels Federation, Fáilte Ireland and the Restaurant’s Association of Ireland, they invite recruiting employers to take part in recruitment fairs or recruitment open days. These services are provided without a charge to the employers.

In 2022 ERD engaged in 70 careers fairs and 70 recruitment events at which 75,717 jobseekers and 2,380 employers attended. 26 events were specifically aimed at the hospitality sector at which 1,295 jobseekers and 55 employers attended. In addition, 110,653 hospitality sector communications were issued to jobseekers and 265 placements were confirmed.

To date this year, there have been six specific job fairs and recruitment events aimed at the hospitality sector at which 651 jobseekers and 36 employers attended. In addition, over 117 job supports were made for 775 jobs in the sector resulting in 60,207 job matches and 59 confirmed placements to date. In total 87,818 communications have been issued by employer relations staff in connection with the sector regarding jobs placements, job fairs or hospitality training courses.

In addition, EURES Ireland provides services to employers who have difficulty recruiting staff in Ireland, to support recruitment from EU and EEA countries. EURES Advisers across the department, who specialise in European recruitment and mobility matters, are available to assist employers by offering advice on recruiting in Europe for hard-to-fill vacancies. They are part of a European Network of more than 1,000 EURES Advisers working together to assist with the recruitment needs of employers. Employers are encouraged to advertise their vacancies on JobsIreland.ie and these vacancies are transferred to the EURES Portal where they can be matched with suitable jobseekers from across the EU. EURES Ireland works closely with Fáilte Ireland to promote the EURES service to all its members and provide information and support for recruitment events and recruitment projects across the EU.

Last year, EURES Ireland has promoted Irish hospitality vacancies at recent recruitment events in Finland, Italy, Switzerland, Cyprus, the Netherlands and Spain. On 17th November 2022, 55 employers from the hospitality sector registered for ‘Bienvenidos a Irlanda’ 2022 - Irish Recruitment Day in Spain, an online and on-site recruitment event. Four hospitality employers attended on-site in Madrid along with representatives from Fáilte Ireland, the Irish Hotels Federation and the Restaurant Association of Ireland who also presented at the event.

I trust this clarifies my department's engagement with the sector.