Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am following up on that. I have been working on licence exchange agreements between different countries. A substantial amount of work has been done behind the scenes with Argentina, North Macedonia and Moldova. Prior to the war in Ukraine, we were looking at Ukrainian haulage drivers. As a result of work at EU level, there is now a training course Ukrainian HGV drivers can do to be brought up to the qualifying standard to work as a haulier here in Ireland.

I take Deputy Lowry's point regarding work permits. I have been dealing with the Minister of State, Deputy English, and the RSA with regard to speeding up that process. I do not want anyone here to think there is nothing happening in this space. There is a very significant amount of work ongoing between different Departments, including work with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to get work permits over the line and speed up that process. The Minister of State is prioritising work permits to meet requirements for critical skill sets. Where we have notified him that certain skill sets are required, work has been expedited. I take the Deputy's point. There is a driver shortage and we have been working on licence exchange agreements, looking at recruiting in other countries and working with the RSA in that regard.