The Minister for Tourism, Dr McDaid, sharply criticised hotels and restaurants for their "grant culture" and their need to be "spoon-fed". He said they wanted the State to train their staff for them. "It is not the responsibility of Government to take the industry by the hand and spoon-feed it grants."
Rebuking the industry, the Minister said 60 per cent of hotels and 80 per cent of restaurants had no in-house training budget. "These owners do not want to do anything; they want the State to train their staff for them."
He asked why these hotels and restaurants were not carrying out their own in-house training and why the State was obliged to "continually take people by the hand" and give them grants.
The Minister was responding to Mr John Perry (FG, Sligo-Leitrim) who asked what steps he was taking to deal with labour shortages in the industry.