Gino Kenny Urges Support, Safety for Seasonal Tourism Workers
Gino Kenny spoke on 6 May 2020 about the impact of Covid-19 on the tourism sector, urging targeted financial support for seasonal tourism workers and clear health and safety guidance for their return. He called for inclusion of seasonal staff in Covid payments and pressed for HSA-backed guidance as tourism begins to reopen.
Appeal for seasonal worker support
Gino Kenny asked the minister to commit to providing support for seasonal workers over the six or seven month tourism season, noting many are currently shut out of Covid supplements. He said he has met with the minister for finance and the minister for social protection and will continue to advocate for an extension or longer-term arrangement to avoid leaving people without payment.
Estimate of workers affected and economic knock-on
Kenny estimated roughly 30,000-40,000 people in the tourism sector are ineligible for existing supports and may be excluded from the subsidy scheme or the cover payment. He warned there is a knock-on effect for 2021 because many seasonal workers who are not working now will not contribute to next year’s season and some will see their jobseeker payments run out.
Health and safety and HSA guidance
He pressed for clear health and safety guidance for workers returning to hotels, bars and other tourism settings, specifically asking that the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) provide guidance and monitoring. Kenny emphasised that employee health and safety must be to the forefront and that consumer confidence will depend on visible protections against a virus that transmits easily between people.
Timing, staycations and uncertainty over dates
Kenny referenced a possible 20th of July marker for eased travel and said many people will opt for staycations, which benefits the Irish tourism industry. He stressed that because of health and safety concerns and the nature of the virus, the government cannot give absolute dates for a return to normality and that precautions will determine the pace of reopening.
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Minister, unfortunately 2020 is shaping up to be an annus horribilis for the tourism sector and there's no getting away from that in relation to the pandemic and that's relevant to across the world and many people in Ireland, rural or urban, rely on seasonal work in the tourism sector and some of these workers are shut out of all Covid supplements and pavements. So my first question, can you commit to providing support for some of these seasonal workers, particularly over the seasonal six or seven months which would the tourism sector season would qualify? My other question is in relation to when tourism begins to kind of come back in some sort of semblance normality and there's probably a kind of a date out there which we're all looking at to some degree is the 20th of July as people you know from we can travel essentially across the state but when workers are employed in hotels and bars and so forth that they're given garden tea particularly around their health and safety and particularly say an agency like the HSA that they will give guidance and monitor workers where they are in kind of situations where they could be put at risk and also where I think at this stage I think most people are going to be doing staycations which is a good thing. Ireland is an incredible country has everything to offer but no matter but still a beautiful country with rain or sun but they are the two questions about in relation to support for seasonal workers and guidance around health and safety for workers when they come back into the sector and can you give guidance and some sort of questions on that? Thank you. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister. day in day out in our interaction in hospitality businesses with people who are working at the front line as well my father was one of those people for almost 40 years in the hotel industry as well wouldn't for the first 30 of those years wouldn't have worked until about the month of march but then would have literally worked six seven days a week right up to october november i have met with the minister for finance and with the minister for social protection in relation to this and whereas we haven't had progress on the matter to date it is something that i will continue to advocate for i think that these people would otherwise be back at work now and would be making a significant contribution to the economy and many of them are the unsung heroes of the industry who for maybe in some cases 30 40 years have been working seasonally and we're unfortunate not to be back in a lot of cases people go back around saint patrick's day and the cutoff point is just before that so this is something i'll continue to work on because i think it's something that's really important um we look at the numbers of people who are out of work as a result of covid 19 in the sector and then we look at the numbers of people who are uh either under the the subsidy scheme or on the cover payment and we can estimate that i would estimate that there's probably maybe 30 40 000 people who are in that bracket around the country i stay i i'm open to correction on that but that that's just my own um estimate there and i think i think it's it's um very unfortunate for those people and many of them as well uh who will be putting up a stamp uh will obviously not be putting that up now in respect of next year so there's a knock-on effect for 2021 if people aren't working now and for some their job seekers would be running out as well so that's uh also a factor uh and it is something that i have had a commitment from the department that the 2021 factor would be addressed but i would like to see those people included in any future extension or any longer term arrangement because uh we can't simply allow those people not to go without payment uh in relation to health and safety of workers again i mean we are engaging with with all of the people uh in in in the industry in relation to how they can safely return to their normal activity and health and safety will have to be uh to the forefront for employee employees um it is quite as simple as that and the reality of it is that um as a consumer i think very few people will be comfortable in a situation uh where their own health and safety isn't guaranteed and i think if you're not guaranteeing that the health and safety of people working it's very difficult because of the nature of this um a virus that transmits so easily between people it'll be very difficult to do that as well uh but that will have to be to the forefront and that will unfortunately that's why we can't give specific absolute certain dates in terms of return to normality
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