Surrounded by scones, butter, jam and cream, Shaun Quinn is in a rich pasture as the new chief executive of CERT, the State training agency for the tourism industry.

"I only asked for cup of tea," he says rather apologetically, although there is nothing obviously wrong with having an ordinary cuppa accompanied by full table service.

Visitors, in fact, provide a fresh opportunity for CERT trainees to practice their skills.

Mr Quinn is six months into the job having moved over from An Bord Bia, the food marketing board, where he was head of marketing.

He has fond memories of growing up on a 200-acre farm at Ballindrait, near Lifford, Co Donegal, and could not imagine wanting anything else at the time.

He went on to study agricultural economics in UCD, and now veers towards being a free market economist, even when it comes to such controversial issues as pay and conditions in an industry which traditionally has had a bad name for both.

"I am a firm believer in the market deciding. I do believe it, even when it comes to pay and conditions," he says.

His parents advised him to stick to what he was good at and emphasised the value of education for their three sons. "Even if we were going to farm, we had to go through the mill," he says.

After college, he worked for Coras Beostoic agus Feola (the Irish Livestock and Meat Board) which later became part of An Bord Bia.

He has never had any casual jobs in the bar or catering industry, citing the pressure of his college course which made demands on time even between terms. "But I know a good pint when I have one," he says.

His favourite pint is served in O'Connor's, in Ballyboughal, north Co Dublin, where he now lives with his wife, Mary, and their 20-month-old son. He does his best thinking while on long walks in the area.

He says his favourite place to eat "without doubt" is Restaurant No 1, CERT House, where chef trainees vie with one another to present the best of Irish cuisine.

That said, he likes Mexican food and loves a bottle of Italian Barolo red wine.

But he does not indulge. "I would be quite disciplined; you have to be," he says.

His job now is to adapt CERT to the changes occurring in the tourism industry. Tourism is increasingly buoyant but it will face increasing worker shortages as the State's population gets older.

He describes the industry as one of the fastest-growing indigenous sectors in the State "with fairly good prospects for the medium term".

But with the fall in the numbers of schoolleavers, the industry will have to look elsewhere for its staffing and will have to compete with other sectors in instilling loyalty in employees.

"A sector with a well-trained and committed workforce could be at a serious competitive advantage. With competition for labour, there is going to be great scope for mobility."

Mr Quinn says women who wish to return to work are one category suited to the specific demands of the tourism industry. "That does dovetail quite neatly with some job opportunities in our business," he says.

CERT is having to change from its traditional role of providing training chefs, managers and waiting and bar staff for the industry to one where it is playing a partnership role and facilitator.

Companies are being encouraged to provide their own in-house training programmes. "You are probably going to see strategic research and training and development coming more and more into our product portfolio," he says.

CERT now has 2,000 trained trainers, he says. The industry has made efforts to shake off the traditional belief that it is heavily casualised, seasonal and low-paid. Some top chefs, he says, are paid more than £50,000 (#64,000) and in all employment categories there are promotional opportunities.

Although "a firm believer" in the market, he says it is generally accepted in the industry that next year's introduction of a £4.40 minimum wage "is not an issue for this industry in terms of what it is paying".

"It holds true that if you are good, and if you want to get ahead, you can make it in this industry," he says. CERT has participated in the National Tourism Careers Roadshow in which industry representatives have given talks in schools and other venues. A 6,500-strong database of interested students has been created as a result.

The agency has a £17 million budget, with about 100 full-time staff and a temporary staff that runs seasonal training operations. It trains about 11,000 people annually and is running initiatives aimed at the long-term unemployed and women who wish to return to work. The part-time requirements of many such applicants often fits the industry's employment needs.

"There are very few industries or sectors of industry that can say to new recruits coming into the business, `It is within your grasp to own your own business'," he says.

But the industry is faced with its own problems as the island of 100,000 welcomes slips a number of notches in the warmth of its embrace.

Mr Quinn refers to the State's cultural attraction for tourists. "We have to ensure that as we recruit more from abroad, which I suppose will be true, that we do not diminish the tourism product in the eyes of our customers," he says.

But their image of Ireland may jar with the reality of a modern, cosmopolitan society where the welcoming atmosphere is "almost rude, brusque and indifferent", as recently described by the general secretary of the Irish Hotel and Catering Institute, Mr Alexis Fitzgerald.