EXTRA LABOUR costs for Sunday opening of restaurants was unsustainable, Minister for Tourism Martin Cullen has said.

“We have all moved to a seven-day week, so we will have to renegotiate this across the entire workforce to remain competitive,” he added. “It will have to come to the next step and I hope that by negotiation in the near future it will be seen as a normal rotation of whatever a 40-hour week is. That is the way it has to be.”

Mr Cullen said that budgetary provisions had responded to a number of issues raised by the Restaurants Association of Ireland.

Fáilte Ireland was working closely with businesses to help them survive the recession and prepare to take advantage of the anticipated upturn, he added.

Specifically, Fáilte Ireland was providing a range of business support services, including a business mentoring and coaching service, a business advisory service, and the optimus programme and performance plus, which were online business tools.

Fine Gael tourism spokeswoman Olivia Mitchell said the restaurant sector supported about 64,000 jobs. According to the restaurateurs themselves, at least one in three of them was in danger of closing within the next few months, she added.

“That will not come as a surprise, because in every town and city, including Dublin, restaurants are closing down regularly.”

Costs, Ms Mitchell said, were too high, and one of the many issues raised was that of higher payments for Sunday working.

“I understand that there have been some improvements from double time down to time-and- a-third, but the whole structure of the catering industry pay rates seems to be a real barrier to survival for many such firms.”