RAI call on Irish Government for resourcing of Irish tourism and hospitality

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By Denis Sheehan, Publisher, H&C News: RAI call on Irish Government for resourcing of Irish tourism and hospitality.

The Irish Examiner reports the Restaurants Association of Ireland calling on Irish Government for immediate action.

The action is on recruiting for the Irish tourism and hospitality sectors in European countries, in a bid to address the people and skills shortages in the sector. Aimed specifically to plan ahead and help save the Christmas season this year.

The RAI says that recruitment of specialist European workers to join the Irish hospitality sector will help save their Christmas season. It has made the call in its pre-budget submission, underling the urgency of the situation by saying: “With the majority of income made at this time of year, seasonal staffing by specialist European workers would save the season.”

The RAI also called for resourcing of Government departments to ensure timely processing of applications critical for workers and businesses, visas and work permits.

At the same time RAI and members requested Irish Government to extend the current reduced 9% VAT rate beyond February 2023. It was introduced for the sector to help offset the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

There are clearly many parallels with the current labour and tax issues facing hospitality in Ireland and the UK. There are also sadly far fewer potential solutions on the table in the UK as government focus on their leadership campaign.

With Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak prioritising how to out Brexit each other, reducing VAT for hospitality, doing anything about energy costs, or helping find solutions to the 176,000 job vacancies in hospitality are clearly not on either’s agenda.

Full details of how the Restaurants Association of Ireland is communicating and working with the Irish Government can be read here.