The pandemic has shown that most of us have a hankering to meet friends in person.
The pub and restaurant trades have had their bleakest years in living memory, but they should bounce back, at least in places where they were still in demand before the pandemic.
The crisis has shown us conclusively that video-conferencing services such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams cannot replace the immediacy and intimacy of the person-to-person encounter. Nevertheless, the video apps have still become part of our lives, tools we can use when we need them.
More of us have also become used to online shopping, cancelling out the necessity of a weekly trudge around a supermarket and the decline in the use of cash has been dramatic.
“There was an issue over some types of skilled workers such as chefs even before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.”
Ireland has now lost an estimated 150,000 hospitality jobs as the Level 5 pandemic control restrictions cost the €9bn industry two of its biggest annual spending events – New Year and St Valentine’s Day. Both St Patrick’s Day and Easter are also set to prove a wipe-out.
In desperation, thousands of hospitality workers have sought employment in other sectors – with no guarantee they will transfer back once the Covid-19 restrictions are eased. “It is an issue of concern for the IHF and other industry groups. Skilled staff are a crucial part of the sector’s recovery.”
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The Government has conceded that the National Vaccination Programme is the only chance the country has of returning to normality a year into the pandemic.