Ireland’s pubs, restaurants and hotels are facing a “tsunami” of staff exits that could cripple their efforts to rebuild after the pandemic.
Waiters and bartenders around the country are “so disillusioned” with endless lockdowns that many are moving into different jobs – an issue that may hobble the food-and-drink sector when the country finally leaves Covid-19 in the dust.
Noel Anderson, the incoming chair of the Licensed Vintners’ Association, has warned that staff shortages are the “biggest long-term issue” facing boozers around the country.
He told the Irish Mirror: “An awful lot of hospitality staff are leaving the industry because they’re so disillusioned with all these lockdowns.”
After the pandemic, as pubs and restaurants attempt to salvage their businesses from the wreckage of the pandemic, finding staff to work in them could prove a massive issue.
For many workers, the lack of security – in a sector that’s been forced to stay closed for the majority of the year – means finding other avenues has now become a no-brainer.
Mr Anderson said a key staff member in one of his pubs has become an apprentice carpenter as a result of the successive shutdowns.
“You can replicate that story all over the country – and potentially all over the world,” he said.
“People are leaving the hospitality sector because they just don’t feel there’s a future in it.
“That's the tsunami coming at us. That's the big one.
“When we get open, it's having the staff to rebuild, and get them to have the confidence to stay in the sector – and being able to afford to pay the wages that they need to survive.
“But then potentially business may not be as good as it was. So you’ve a very, very tricky balancing act to perform there.”
In brighter news for the hospitality sector, pubs and restaurants are teaming up on a bold new plan that could put them right at the centre of Ireland’s vaccine rollout.
Mr Anderson said pubs and hotels will this week make contact with the Government to offer up their facilities.
