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Foodies Fight Back with Lucinda

Foodies Fight Back with Lucinda

Wednesday 06 January 2021

There are few who know more about the hospitality industry than Donagh Davern, lecturer at Cork Institute of Technology (CIT).

"With the first lockdown, suddenly we had to move all our classes online. I was in the final stages of my doctoral studies at the University of Surrey, so I decided to use the extra time to drive on with these and, after four years of studies, managed to complete them by the summer."

Working from home brought great joy to Donagh as he got to spend lots of time with his 14-month-old son James, and with restrictions lifted during the summer they also had some great family staycationing breaks.

"In my home town of Cashel, work continues apace on the renovation of the Cashel Palace Hotel. The people of the town are really looking forward to it reopening next summer, and the addition of a town park, which will link the Rock of Cashel to the town centre. Normally, during the summer months, I'd be out inspecting hotels for the Gold Medal Awards, so I missed that interaction this year. My colleagues in the hotel industry have suffered terribly with the closing of their properties. Nearly 30pc of those on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment are from the accommodation and food sector. This sector contributes €1.41bn to the Exchequer, accounting for 6.5pc of total employment - that's over 148,000 livelihoods."

"I'm looking forward to 2021 and emerging from the pandemic. At work, CIT will transition to become the Munster Technological University on January 1, so it will be a very positive start to the year."

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First Published In The Sunday Independent