Irish hoteliers look for overseas staff

Hoteliers in Ireland are to step up recruitment from abroad as a shake-up in licensing hours is set to increase pressure on their already overstretched staff.

Under new legislation set to be implemented by June, closing time will be extended from 11.30pm to 12.30am from Thursday to Saturday, and the existing 11.30pm closing time from Monday to Wednesday will apply all year round instead of half-an-hour earlier in winter.

Donal O'Meara, secretary of the Irish Hotels Federation, said that staff would have to work longer hours. "It will create some difficulty for us," he said, "but our staff are flexible, and we will work with them to get it right. We were always into relatively longer hours, and often the hotel trade was swinging when the pubs weren't."

Frank O'Malley, hotel, restaurant and catering branch secretary of general union SIPTU, said labour shortages had already pushed wages up from about IR£5 (£3.82) an hour two years ago to IR£6-IR£7 (£4.59-£5.35) now. The union represents 12,000 catering workers.

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 20-26 April 2000