Hospitality sector will struggle to hire staff once students go back in September

Photo © Horse and Jockey Hotel

As Tipperary bar and restaurants reopen, concerns have been expressed about the ability to retain staff once the summer holidays are over.

This week saw the resumption of indoor hospitality for the first time since last December.

Some of the so-called wet pubs, which do not serve food, also opened their doors for the first time in nearly 500 days.

Restaurant representatives said around 25% of their members will not be reopening for a number of reasons, such as lack of staff.

Speaking to Tipp Today, Caroline Egan, Manager of The Horse and Jockey Hotel says the retention of staff could be a big issue once summer is over.

“I think we’ll see it more now come September because we took on a good few part time for the summer and there is a lot of students around.”

“But full time staff are definitely a lot harder to come by. We managed to keep our great core staff but there was definitely a couple that definitely changed industries during the lockdown.”