This article is from page 7 of the 2011-05-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 7 JPG
THE Irish tourism industry is being strangled by the Joint Labour Committee (JLC) system preventing the creation of thousands of jobs in the sector, the Director of the Shannon College of Hotel Management, Mr Philip J. Smyth has said.
In his keynote address at the 60th anniversary of the college last Friday, Mr Smyth said that Sunday trading has become a “write off” for many operators in the industry because of the JLC. Under the JLC, minimum terms and conditions of employment in the catering sector above and beyond the national minimum wage are set, including premium payment for weekend and overtime work.
He said that Shannon College is the only third-level college/institute in Ireland with a 100 per cent graduate employment rate. “The concept of having to protect workers in the tourism sector is outdated and the sooner we abolish the JLC, the sooner we will begin creating jobs and fulfilling the enormous potential of the industry,” he said.
Mr Smyth told the gathering of over 200 guests that the prospects for growth in the industry are being hampered by a lack of national pride in service delivery. “As a population, we do not have a sense of service to match our wonderful sense of hospitality,” he said.
Congratulating the Shannon College of Hotel Management – a subsidiary of the Dublin Airport Authority – on its 60th anniversary, Director of Shannon Airport, Ms Mary Considine said its dedication to excellence has been nothing short of remarkable and that the college “has made an enormous contribution to the hotel industry here in Ireland and, indeed, globally”.
“To think that today, in such a challenging global economy, graduates from the college not only enjoy a 100% employment rate but are essentially headhunted by some of the world’s leading hotel groups speaks volumes for the standards that the college continues to deliver,” she said.
Since the first class of 18 students joined Shannon College in 1951, the college has grown to accept 100 students each year. It now offers two level 8 degree programmes (BBS and BComm) in business studies and international hotel management. It currently has 400 students enrolled, 200 of them Irish and the other half from 25 countries across the globe. Current students are undertaking professional work placements in 100 hotels across 16 countries worldwide.