Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is also healthcare assistants as well as doctors and nurses. There could be several thousand a year. During one year of Covid there were 4,500 medical-related permits. I want to put that information out there.

The legislation before us will allow for the automatic indexation of wages. There are particular sectors that traditionally obtain permits. We look at them and if we see in the most recent that the terms and wage rates are increasing all the time, we will have a view on that. It will be captured in the evidence. When a particular area is being assessed the intention is not to reduce wages. If we believe this is happening in certain sectors, it can be dealt with when permits are being reissued or in the next round of permits. We have seen this already with healthcare assistants. The ask from the sector was to put in place a wage mechanism of €23,000 or €24,000. Based on research on what was happening and what we thought was possible, we went as far as €27,500. Each sector is examined. Automatic indexation is part of what we are asking for in the new legislation and regulations.

To return to Deputy Stanton's point on terms and conditions, in recent years a lot of work has been done on access to the various entitlements. This has been led by the Tánaiste and the Department to put in place a journey to the living wage. In January, another massive increase in the minimum wage will kick in. Auto-enrolment of pension will also have an impact. There will be access to statutory sick pay legislation. There are many changes to strengthen the terms and conditions of employees. Anybody on a permit must follow these conditions at a minimum and go beyond them for certain sectors. I am committed to working with the committee and I will come back prior to Report Stage on the details of this. We can discuss it on Report Stage or with interested members of the committee prior to that.