The body which represents Irish restaurants is repeating its call for a reduction in the minimum wage and the abolition of catering joint labour committees (JLCs), which set wage rates for the industry.
The Restaurant Association of Ireland (RAI) is holding its annual conference in Killiney, Co Dublin.
The body also wants a reduction in local authority rates, claiming that Ireland is the most expensive country in Europe in which to run a restaurant.
The RAI has carried out a survey of its members, which found that 75% reported a drop in business levels compared with the same time last year. 38% said business was down by more than 30%.
'We pay our staff one of the highest wage rates within the European hospitality sector. We are obliged to charge our customers rates of VAT and excise duty which are again at the top of the EU league. Our food input costs are 24% higher than the EU average. The Irish restaurant sector cannot continue within such a regime,' said RAI chief executive Adrian Cummins.
But the Irish Congress of Trade Unions described the RAI's calls as 'hypocritical', claiming that the sector had the worst labour law compliance record.
'Repeated investigations by the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) have found workers in the sector receiving as little €3 and €5 per hour,' said ICTU official Peter Rigney. He said that last year, the NERA recovered €737,000 in unpaid wages from almost 450 employers.
ICTU said the sector's problems were not coming from excessive wage costs, 'but from the fact that Government is sucking money and demand out of the economy through a policy of deflation'.
