By Christina Golding
Thousands of newly created jobs in the catering industry in Ireland are being filled by refugees and foreign workers, says a senior union official.
The hotel and restaurant industry, one of Ireland's biggest employers, now has 188,000 workers, an increase of more than 17,000 in two years.
But the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union (SIPTU), which has accused the industry of paying "poverty wages" to the bulk of its workers, is concerned that school leavers are avoiding the industry, which is happy to pay for cheaper, foreign labour.
Norman Croke, SIPTU's Dublin branch secretary for the hotels, restaurants and catering division, said: "A significant number of the new jobs are being filled by foreign labour including, in recent times, undocumented refugees."
The skills shortage in Ireland's hospitality industry, which mirrors the UK's shortage, has led some companies to actively seek workers from abroad.
Bewleys café chain, which employs 700 people, advertised in the newspaper El Pais earlier this year because it said that Spain was a rich source of potential staff.
SIPTU fears that the industry is relying too heavily on the unskilled.
"The industry is no longer relying on skilled labour, it is lowering its expectations, rates and conditions," said Croke.
But the Council for Education Recruitment and Training sees the problem decreasing. A spokesman said there was an increase of 22% in the number of graduates recruited by the industry in 1996 compared with 1995.