Labour shortages – still challenging pubs

Staff shortages continue to plague the licensed trade in Dublin and around the country, particularly the challenge of getting food staff.

“Chefs, for example, are very very hard to find,” LVA Chief Executive Donall O’Keeffe stressed to Drinks Industry Ireland, “The Hospitality space has exploded and everyone is trying to fish out of the same pool so it’s very difficult to source the right people.”

He added that qualified experienced local barmen have also become harder to find.

“But in many ways we’re dealing with a much better quality of problem than we had five to 10 years ago,” he added, “We’re actively recruiting from a bigger labour pool of part-timers, so it’s one of the problems of success.”