Supermac's boss thinks 'PUP caused people to get a bit lazy' as he recruits overseas

The group's managing director Pat McDonagh said that over the past two months and up to the end of the year, Supermac's will have recruited more than 100 EU workers who do not require work permits from Eastern Europe, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

'One of the reasons for the shortage of workers here, he said, is the Government's Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP)," he said.

"I think the PUP caused people to get a bit lazy."

"There are multiple reasons why Irish people would not be interested in working in Supermac's.

"And unfortunately, there is a scarcity of workers for every line of work right now, with some businesses only able to open two days a week because of a shortage of staff.

"A lot of Irish have moved on from the catering business - maybe because of the uncertainty of it and maybe because of the unsociable hours.

"Also, people realise the work-life balance needs to be changed. They feel it was a rat race up until now and they want to spend more time with the kids and family."

Supermac's is currently fitting out a new motorway plaza for outside Tuam.

"We would have 70pc Irish staff on the team for the Tuam site but if we didn't have the 30pc non-Irish national staff, we would not be able to open it without them," Mr McDonagh said.

He said the Supermac's group currently has a person working full-time recruiting staff from abroad.

The breakdown for the 100 workers recruited from overseas, he explained, will be 55 working in Supermac's fast-food outlets and 45 working in the group's hotels.

Across the Supermac's group, the breakdown of workers by nationality is 80pc Irish and 20pc foreign workers, he added.

Mr McDonagh said Supermac's would usually look after the accommodation needs of the newly-arrived workers for the first couple of weeks or first month and then help find more permanent accommodation for them.

"It is working out pretty well," he said.

"They are happy and we are happy. That's it."