Brendan Burgess
Founder
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I heard some guy on Morning Ireland yesterday arguing that the restaurant trade can't get staff and find the minimum wage hard to pay at present, without it being increased any further.
The solution was to lift the restrictions on working visas.
It seems to me that the very high social welfare rates and benefits are at the root of the problem. It doesn't pay people to work when they can get almost as much on social welfare. If social welfare rates were brought down to the average levels in other European countries, people would be prepared to work.
I spent a week in Spain recently and was surprised that the waiting staff were of all ages and seemed to me to be Spanish. In Ireland, it seems that most of the waiting staff are young and foreign. Why do so few Irish people work as waiters?
The solution was to lift the restrictions on working visas.
It seems to me that the very high social welfare rates and benefits are at the root of the problem. It doesn't pay people to work when they can get almost as much on social welfare. If social welfare rates were brought down to the average levels in other European countries, people would be prepared to work.
I spent a week in Spain recently and was surprised that the waiting staff were of all ages and seemed to me to be Spanish. In Ireland, it seems that most of the waiting staff are young and foreign. Why do so few Irish people work as waiters?