Mr. Neil Bruton:

I will take up the Deputy's point about what we want around critical skills employment permits. Essentially he is correct that the pandemic has shown the value of all work, especially essential work. The rights of a general employment permit worker are not the same as someone on a critical skills employment permit. We are essentially asking that people on a general employment permit get full labour market access after two years, which is what someone on a critical skills work permit gets. That will allow people on a general employment permit to access their rights much more easily.

One can technically change employer after 12 months but in reality that is extremely difficult. Someone who is here on a general employment permit may be working on a mushroom farm in a rural isolated setting and English might not be his or her first language. To expect him or her to build a strong enough relationship with a new employer so that the employer will apply for a work permit for him or her in a new job is unrealistic. A simple way we see that people can get better rights is to give them similar rights to those on the critical skills employment permit. That means they will have full access to the labour market after two years.