Sir, I would alike to welcome Mr Norman Croke's letter (February 5th) in which he supports the establishment of recognised apprenticeships for skilled personnel in the catering/hospitality industry. The Restaurants Association of Ireland is presently exploring the possibility of introducing a designated craft apprenticeship. This scheme, if successful, will be one element of a charter for the members of the Restaurants' Association of Ireland. In fact Mr Croke was invited to participate in this process some months ago.
As Mr Croke also states in his letter, the industry's poor image has been well documented in the media over the last year. This image is grossly exaggerated and cannot be supported by any scientific statistical studies. As the representative body of the restaurant sector, my association has always and will continue to promote best practices with our members, and that includes fair and just remunerations. The Simpson Xavier Restaurant Review found that the wage bill for Irish restaurant owners accounted for 32 per cent of sales. Another interesting statistic from this report showed that the average net profit in the restaurant business was 4.2 per cent. There is no other industry or business that pays out such a high proportion of turnover to it's employees. These figures are testament that those involved in the Irish restaurant industry reward their staff handsomely.
Finally, I would welcome Mr Croke's other suggestion that Government should intervene and support my association's desire to have a regulated craft training programme that would give our excellent staff more meaningful recognition. - Yours, etc.,
Chief executive, Restaurants Association of Ireland, St Augustine St, Dublin 8.