The 2008 Listowel Food Fair

The 2008 Listowel Food Fair will take place from the 6th - 9th November and promises to bring the town to life with culinary delights for this the 14th year of the festival.

2008 Events
Events on this years programme include special guest Darina Allen of Ballymaloe House and Cookery School. Darina will officially launch the Fair and provide a cookery demonstration incorporation the local artisan food products from the local farmers market. The launch event will include a taste of local shellfish reception together with complimentary wine.

Consultant Dietician Aveen Bannon will give a nutrition and healthy eating seminar on the key nutritional issues in the Irish diet. Recent studies all focus on the increasing levels of obesity in Ireland but despite us growing in size as a nation we are still nutrition deplete. The key nutritional issues in Ireland include inadequate iron in the diet, calcium, omega-3 fatty acids and more. Aveen plans to address these dietary issues and advise on how we can change these statistics by changing our eating habits and attitudes to food. Aveen will help you to gain an understanding of the nuts and bolts of nutrition and will offer practical advice on everything from the importance of iron intake to healthy and nutritional meal ideas.

The National Farmhouse Cheese competition
The National Farmhouse Cheese competition takes place on Friday morning with cheese guru Juliet Harbutt of the British Cheese Awards in attendance together with Teagasc experts Eddie O’Neill and Sara McSweeney.

This year sees the launch of the Irish Food Book of the Year Competition with a prize fund of €1,000 for the best food book of the past year. The winners of the Bord Bia Quality Mark Schools competition will be announced on Friday evening with prizes for individual students, teachers- sponsored by Caterassist, and participating schools.

This competition aims to highlight the Quality Mark and promote its awareness among consumers. The Homebaker of the Year competition this year focuses on a Bown Soda Bread making competition to be judged by culinary experts from the local Tralee Institute of Technology Hotel and Catering Department.

This competition is sponsored by Caterassist.Saturday events include cake decorating and bread making classes and morning and afternoon children’s workshops, events in local supermarkets, the good food dining circle in local restaurants and a beer tasting event.

Sunday’s annual Food and Craft market takes place from 10am to 5.30pm and the fair comes to a close with a wine tasting evening. For more information contact 068 23433 or contact Listowel Food Fair.

Budget 2009: Hoteliers Call for Increased Banking Liquidity & Freeze in Tourism Related Taxes

Measures to improve banking liquidity and access to seasonal funding, a commitment to a minimum of €3 million in additional marketing funds for conferencing, business and golf tourism as well as a freeze on tourism related taxes are the key measures being called for in Budget 2009 by the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF).

In its pre-budget submission today, the IHF urges the Government to preserve the significant tourism success achieved by Ireland over the past 20 years which is now experiencing substantial downward pressures in the current challenging economic environment. These measures would put the sector on a more secure footing as hotels and guesthouses seek to trade through rapidly deteriorating market circumstances where access to financial assistance is constricted.

In its submission Consolidating the Achievements of Tourism presented to Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, T.D., the IHF calls on the Government to ensure sufficient and adequately priced credit facilities are available in the banking system for hotels and guesthouses requiring additional short term finance facilities. Failing that, the IHF calls for the introduction of a loan guarantee scheme to assist commercially sound hotels and guesthouses requiring short term financial assistance due to the current credit squeeze.

According to Matthew Ryan, President of the IHF, which represents 1,000 hotels and guesthouses, the sudden decline in the economic environment, has generated difficulties for the hotel industry which is being adversely affected by falling revenues and rising costs. “The industry has invested heavily over the recent years to expand stock, upgrade facilities and enhance the quality and range of its product offering in line with the Government’s tourism growth plan. The situation now calls for liquidity measures to be introduced to assist those commercially sound businesses to trade through a period of economic turbulence.”

“The industry is seeking to be as competitive as possible against a backdrop where energy, labour costs, interest rates and public services charges are eating into our efforts. Combined with exchange rates hampering our attractiveness in the dollar and sterling markets, this is having a real impact on the hotel sector in 2008. 53% of hotels and 59% of guesthouses did less business in Jan to June 2008 compared with 2007 with room occupancy rates down from 61% to 54% in 2008 to date. All major overseas tourism markets were substantially weaker with North America, Continental Europe and the British hotel bednights down 25%, 18% and 5% respectively – not a pleasant situation for businesses who have invested heavily in their premises and are now finding trading difficult and access to additional seasonal financial resources difficult due to the credit crunch,” says Mr Ryan.

The IHF key measures it is calling for in Budget 2009:

• Funding for tourism marketing: The IHF seeks an increase in real terms in the marketing budgets of Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland in order to maintain existing levels of marketing activity. Marketing spend is proven to generate a direct and immediate return in terms of increased tourism business. The IHF wants an additional allocation of €3 million for specific drives to attract new business/conference visitors. The national conference centre is due to come online in 2010 and must be poised to tap into this segment of the market, which is worth €200 billion worldwide. In addition, the Federation is calling for funding to be allocated to attract additional golf business by building on Ireland’s recent high profile international golf successes. Ireland has underperformed compared to the rest of Europe in relation to these market segments, and these now require dedicated marketing initiatives.
• Access to adequately priced credit facilities: The Federation is calling on the Government to include provisions in Budget 2009 to ensure there is sufficient and reasonably priced liquidity in the banking system to meet the increased financing needs of otherwise commercially sound hotels and guesthouses to see them through the lean 2008/09 period. The need for additional financial facilities comes at a time when banks are reluctant to extend additional credit and follows a period of strong increased investment by hotels and guesthouse to develop Ireland’s tourism product. Given the strategic importance of tourism to the Irish economy, it is vital that the Government ensure businesses within the sector are given the necessary breathing space and time for adjustment to the sudden, substantial deterioration in economic and financial trading environment.
• No increases in tourism related taxes and Charges: The IHF calls on the Minister to avoid any tax increases in tourism related products and services at national and local levels and to introduce a freeze on all public sector charges. The Federations calls on the Government to ensure the introduction of any carbon tax is revenue neutral and does not increase the tax burden for Irish businesses.

The IHF states that tourism has been a significant pillar of the Irish economy over the last 20 years. The largest indigenous industry in the country, it has over the years witnessed good and bad economic conditions and has clearly shown that the sector can be resilient if the right measures are adopted at Government level to maintain its buoyancy during periods of economic uncertainty.

“We need protective, prudent measures now so that the industry can be in a strong position to take best advantage of the market opportunities when the resumption of normal economic growth rates return in 2010. It is essential that the short term economic slowdown should not do long term harm to the tourism sector because protective measures where not put in place at this critical time,” states Matthew Ryan.

“Tourism is a large, strategically important industry which is deeply embedded in the Irish economy and should be supported in Budget 2009. Based on current trends, hotels are looking at potential reductions in average profit per room of up to 50%, resulting in serious short term financing problems for some of our member. Competitiveness clearly remains an issue requiring urgent action and this has been intensified by the international economic slowdown. We compete in a global market for both domestic and overseas tourists and are impacted by taxation, costs and marketing funding. These areas can be improved through appropriate fiscal measures in both taxation and expenditure policy in Budget 2009.”

“We recognise that the Government’s finances will be in a difficult position in 2009. However, we need the marketing budgets and financial liquidity issues to be dealt with immediately so that the sector is well positioned to take best advantage of improved circumstances in 2010,” concludes Mr Ryan.

The tourism industry is this country’s biggest indigenous employer with approximately 140,000 people employed in the sector. It is a major contributor to the economy and remains a substantial economic asset worthy of significant ongoing public policy support. In 2006, the Exchequer received €2.8 billion in taxation from tourism and, allowing for indirect and induced effects, tourism accounted for 3.8% of GNP in 2006. It provides employment in every single city, town and village in Ireland.

Economic contributions of the tourism
Over the longer term, the tourism and hotel industries have achieved substantial growth and have invested in skills, marketing, technology, products and services and physical facilities. The main economic contributions of the tourism industry include:

• Almost €5 billion in foreign exchange earnings in 2007 compared to €2.1 billion in 1995 and €4.3 billion in 2005
• 8.3 million visitors
• Domestic tourism expenditure of €1.5 billion in 2007
• Almost €3 billion in revenues to the exchequer from tourism in 2007
• Tourism accounted for about 4% of GNP
• Hospitality industry accounts for 250,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal jobs
• Greater spread of regional economic activity than most other industries
• 7% of services exports
• Provides a substantial entrepreneurial resource as the vast majority of tourism enterprises are small and medium enterprises.
• 57,000 people employed in the hotel and guesthouse sector – largest employer in the tourism sector
• 920 hotels with 60,000 rooms
• 360 guesthouses with 4,300 rooms
• Total of 64,300 hotel and guesthouse bedrooms in Ireland

New York's travel industry hit hard by economic slowdown

NEW YORK TIMES - OCTOBER

The travel industry has been hit hard by the economic slowdown, particularly in the last few weeks.

Airlines reported sharp declines in passenger traffic for September.

Hotel occupancy rates are down, and corporate travel managers are demanding new concessions on previously negotiated deals.



Cancellations are starting to rise even at four- and five-star hotels, which previously seemed immune to the economy’s travails. Months ago, the nation’s airlines, which are grounding some of their older jets, announced plans to cut 8 to 10 percent of their domestic flights after Labor Day, so traffic was expected to be down.

At the same time, the airlines planned to raise fares on their remaining flights.But passenger traffic is down beyond the cuts already planned. To be sure, fall is usually a slower season for air travel than spring and summer. Until the holiday season begins at Thanksgiving, flights are dominated by business travelers. So the slower traffic reflects the impact the business crisis is having on the airlines.

In September, the top seven airlines averaged a 9.47 drop in domestic passenger miles traveled compared with September 2007. Domestically and internationally, the major airlines carried 9.2 percent fewer passengers than in September 2007.

Hotels are also feeling the slowdown. In September, domestic hotel occupancy was down 5 percent from the previous September, according to Smith Travel Research. And the higher-price segment of the hotel industry, which had been holding its own, now also seems to be feeling the pain."For the last two weeks, cancellations of existing reservations are running about 50 percent above normal” at full-service hotels", said Bjorn Hanson, an associate professor at the Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management at New York University. "That niche — including five-star hotels and four-star hotels that do major business in conventions and meetings — has been propped up by corporate deals negotiated last spring, when “the balance of power was still on the side of the sellers," Mr. Hanson said. "While rates remain high", he added, "corporations locked into hotel contracts are intensely negotiating for concessions — free breakfasts, free use of fitness rooms, no charge for business center services, free late checkout."

Third-quarter profit fell 28 percent at Marriott International, which is considered an industry bellwether because of its big global presence and its wide range of hotel brands, from midlevel lodgings like Courtyard by Marriott to five-star luxury hotels like Ritz-Carlton.“At the Ritz-Carlton Central Park, normally filled with investment bankers and their clients, the entertainment industry and diplomats are filling rooms and restaurants now,” Arne Sorensen, Marriott’s chief financial officer, said.

SIPTU to ballot on Aer Lingus strike

SIPTU members in Aer Lingus decided this evening to ballot for all out industrial action.




National Industrial Secretary Gerry McCormack said "This is Irish Ferries Mark II. It represents a fire sale of good quality jobs by a management that can see no further than the next quarter's profit and loss sheet."

Aer Lingus set a deadline of 1 November for the implementation of a €74m cost-cutting programme involving up to 1,500 job cuts through redundancies and outsourcing. Up to 280 jobs will go at Shannon Airport as part of the plan. At a 2 1/2 hour meeting this afternoon, management told staff that €50m would have to be eliminated from staff costs.

They also said €14m would have to come from a reduction in advertising and distribution costs, airport costs and professional fees, and €10m from reducing the airline's long haul aircraft fleet from nine to eight.

There will be a voluntary severance or early retirement package on the same terms as in 2004 for cabin crew and ground staff in airports, catering and cargo divisions. Sick pay entitlements are to be reduced.

Contracts based on performance related pay will be introduced from January. Staff who do not take redundancy may transfer to a new service provider - but there will be no opportunity to redeploy within the airline.

15-month pay freeze for staff
Cabin crew bases at Shannon and Heathrow will be closed. Staff may be offered redeployment to Dublin or Cork or alternatively will face redundancy. Services from New York, Boston and San Francisco will be staffed with US based cabin crew from the summer of next year. The company will commence a programme to move head office to smaller more open plan facilities.

Earlier it emerged the airline was to impose a pay freeze until the end of 2009 under the cost cutting package. Staff are also to be given new contracts which will introduce performance related pay and abolish traditional increments. It is understood that the use of a US cabin crew on transatlantic flights has been proposed at the meeting.

The company has already reported losses of €22m for this year, and is forecasting potential losses of over €100m next year - depending on the cost of fuel. On Friday, the Aer Lingus board finally authorised management to proceed with what it described as a cost reduction programme to deliver substantial savings necessary to ensure the company's long-term viability as an independent airline.

The company also stressed that the cost savings must be delivered as a matter of urgency. It is also believed that the company is not prepared to engage in a lengthy negotiating process, and wants to commence implementation of cost cuts in 2009. However, unions are likely to highlight that staff have already made significant productivity concessions both in the Survival Plan of 2001 and in the recent cost-cutting programme agreed in the summer.

SIPTU has indicated that it is totally opposed to any outsourcing, which would predominantly affect its members.

Dunne critic attacks illegal ad banners at D4 hotel site

Two illegal advertising banners which appeared on the railings of property developer Seán Dunne's controversial Jury's Hotel in Ballsbridge last week have been condemned by one of his most vocal adversaries, Fine Gael TD Lucinda Creighton.

Against the backdrop of An Bord Pleanála's public hearing in Croke Park of the planning appeal for Dunne's controversial skyscraper tower in Dublin 4, Dublin City Council confirmed that no permission had been sought to display the advertising banners. A spokeswoman for the council said an enforcement officer was being despatched and a warning notice would be issued to the hotel that the banners were in breach of regulations.

"The rules are pretty clear. I'm sure Mr Dunne is well enough acquainted with the planning regulations to know he needs permission," said Dublin South East TD Creighton. "It's another show of disregard for the residents and a disregard for the rules, just as his planning application is a flagrant contravention of the Dublin city development plan."

Dunne and Creighton have previously locked horns. At the Croke Park hearing, she alleged that supporters of the property developer had "intimidated" residents who attended a meeting she organised to debate the plans for the hotel site. The head-turning red plastic banners, tied to the railings beside the hotel's main entrance on Pembroke Road and at the junction of Lansdowne Road, are advertising €99-a-night room rates in blue and white lettering, under the slogan, "Visit D4hotels.ie – where smart people go". In smaller, inked handwriting, the words "temporary sign" appear on each banner.

Dunne set a land price record for the prestigious south Dublin suburb when he paid €370m for the seven acres containing Jury's, Jury's Towers and the Berkeley Court hotels. His plans incorporate a 37-storey tower as well as a multi-storey embassy complex, offices, apartments, a hotel and an underground shopping centre. A resident of Dublin 4 himself, his billionaire fellow resident Dermot Desmond is one of the proposed development's staunchest opponents.

Dunne's contingency plan to run the property as a hotel while awaiting planning permission to proceed has been blighted by rifts with business associates. John Brennan, managing director of the five-star Park Hotel in Kenmare, briefly operated the hotel business, while the well-known publican Charlie Chawke ran the Dubliner Bar, before both men fell out with Dunne separately and acrimoniously.

An Bord Pleanála is expected to make its verdict on the planning appeal known by Christmas.

Belfast Hilton faces legal action from GAA fan

A five-star Belfast hotel is facing legal action over claims it refused to show last month's All-Ireland football final on television.

A solicitor's letter has been sent to the Hilton Hotel following allegations that staff told customers the Tyrone-Kerry match would not be screened.

Brian Corey, a GAA fan from the Ormeau Road in Belfast, claims the refusal to show the match was an affront to his dignity and national identity. His solicitor has now gone to court seeking damages, claiming a breach of the law covering services provided by hotels.

The Hilton has rejected any suggestion of discrimination. A spokeswoman said they were unable to show the All-Ireland final as they were already screening a football match between Chelsea and Manchester United. She said this was linked to a food and beverage promotion in the hotel which a number of guests were enjoying at the time.

'QE2' docks for the last time in Cobh harbour

THE QE2 has paid its final visit to Cobh before sailing off into the sunset to become a floating hotel.

Hundreds of people gathered along the quayside and up on the high road to watch the 40-year-old Cunard Line ship as it rounded Roches Point yesterday and made its way up the harbour before berthing in the historic harbour town shortly after 3pm.

The QE2 may not be the world's biggest liner but, at some 293 metres (960ft) long and 70,000 tonnes, it still took four tugs to nudge the ship in close to the pontoon on the quayside so that lines could be attached.

Port of Cork commercial manager Capt Michael McCarthy said that the QE2 , which has sailed 5.6 million nautical miles since being commissioned in 1969, had come to Cobh a day earlier than planned after bad weather prevented it from berthing in Cherbourg. He said Cobh was savouring the chance to pay a final farewell. "It's her fifth time coming to Cork harbour but previously she moored off Whitegate and at the deepwater berth at Ringaskiddy," Capt McCarthy said, "but since we invested €8 million in extending the berth here in Cobh, we can take longer ships with deeper draughts."

Chairman of Cobh Tourism Hendrick Verwey said the QE2 coming a day earlier had added to the excitement while also giving people a greater opportunity to see the liner. To mark the QE2's final visit to Cobh, the port of Cork is launching its new multimedia experience Exiles at the Cobh Cruise Terminal today.

Nine Enforcement Orders Served in September

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) today stated that nine Enforcement Orders were served on food businesses during the month of September for breaches of food safety legislation pursuant to the FSAI Act, 1998.

The Orders were issued by environmental health officers (EHOs) in HSE Dublin Mid Leinster region, HSE Dublin North East region, HSE West region and HSE South region.

Closure Orders were served on:

• Mullallys grocery (storage areas only), Main Street, Roscrea, Tipperary.
• Wax/Spy public house (basement and stores), Powerscourt Townhouse, Dublin 2.
• Wax/Spy public house, Powerscourt Townhouse, Dublin 2.
• Ely Winebar and Café (part of basement), 22/23 Ely Place, Dublin 2.
• Fortune Star House take-away, 1 Terminus Villas, Turkey Road, Tramore, Co Waterford.
• Five Alley Bar and Restaurant: Food preparation and storage areas (not bar or bar store), Carrigatogher, Nenagh, Tipperary.
• China Garden take-away, Unit 3 Supervalu Centre, Drogheda Street, Balbriggan, Co Dublin.
  

Prohibition Orders were served on:

• Wax/Spy public house, Powerscourt Townhouse, Dublin 2.
• Ely Winebar and Café, 22/23 Ely Place, Dublin 2
  

Dr John O’Brien, Chief Executive, FSAI, expressed concern at the very high number of Enforcement Orders that had to be issued in September. “The number of Enforcement Orders issued in September represents the highest number of Orders issued in one month so far this year. We continue to stress to food businesses that it is their responsibility to adhere to best practice set down in law or there will be consequences such as Enforcement Orders. Our main priority is the safety of the consumer in relation to food, and the food they purchase must be produced to the highest standards attainable.”

Details of the food businesses served with these Enforcement Orders are published on the FSAI’s website. Closure Orders will remain listed on the website for a period of three months from the date of when a premises is adjudged to have corrected its food safety issue, with Prohibition Orders being listed for a period of one month.