Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes, so if there is a need to change the critical skills list to try to ease the work permit application process, now is the time for us to think about that. We have had consultation with different industry bodies and so on. It is quite a long list already, but I am sure there are categories that need to be on it that are not. There is an opportunity to address that over the next few weeks.

It is worth saying the work permit process is much slicker now than it has ever been. We give a decision on a work permit in about two weeks, whereas a year ago it was taking three months and sometimes longer. We have put a lot of resources into the work permits issue. There are very few countries that will turn around a work permit in ten working days like we will. At the outset it might take three weeks, but sometimes it is much faster. There is sometimes a second barrier in terms of having to get a visa from the Department of Justice, depending on the country. We have had some preliminary discussions on trying to put together a single application process that would allow a company to apply for a work permit and a visa through the same application system. That makes sense, but it is much more complicated than it sounds and involves two Government Departments, security checks and a whole range of other things linked to visa applications but not work permit applications. That is where I would like to get to, though it will be another year or so before we can conclude that. In the meantime, we have a very efficient work permit application system. We are looking at the legislation in that space to improve it even further and we are also looking at the critical skills list to ensure we are filling the gaps as necessary. So far this year, we are at a rate of work permits equivalent to somewhere between 30,000 and 35,000 in the year. They are flowing.