Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Cowen for raising this issue, as well as for putting forward those two cases, which are familiar stories about the system, on the floor of the House. I am happy to take him through what we are doing to address this, as well as to give him some context on it.

At the start, however, I want to say that I totally agree with the Deputy that this is not an acceptable timeframe. I will not stand over it, our Department is not happy with it, and neither is the Tánaiste. The Taoiseach has addressed it here as well. We have plans in place to address this, and we have a target to bring these timelines right back down. However, they are a victim of Covid-19. They are also a victim of the recovery phase that we are in as we come out of Covid-19, as well as of the demand for these permits. While we are not happy with the timelines, I will explain to the Deputy what is behind them, and what we are doing to correct them.

We hope to very soon, in the weeks ahead, be able to bring the timelines back down. A plan of action is in place to keep them down, when we get to that stage. The Deputy addressed the overall issue, apart from the permits, of a skills shortage, and he is right. Thanks to all of the supports, which the Deputy referenced, from the Government over the last two years, we are in a position to have a jobs-led recovery. However, that brings pressure on the system and a demand for skills and labour, which seems to be unable to be met from traditional sources within Ireland and across Europe for many sectors. We have to respond to that in a combination of ways which include the permit scheme, but also through upskilling, education systems, further education and training, and engaging with the Department of Social Protection's Pathways to Work document, which is to assist employers and employees.

I would ask that all of those sectors would engage with my Department and me, as well as with the Department of Education and with the Department of Social Protection, as we work together to resolve these issues into the long term. This is because while permits can be seen as the solution in the short term, they should not be seen as the long-term fix. I am happy to engage with Deputy Cowen and his colleagues on this issue.

To set the context, my Department and the employment permit system did continue to operate from the onset of the pandemic. My Department implemented a Covid-19 contingency plan in March 2020, moving the employment permit operations seamlessly to a totally remote working environment and to accept all documents from applicants electronically. The Department moved quite fast to do that. Ireland was one of the few countries that has managed to keep its employment permit system fully operational throughout the crisis. My Department made an agreement with immigration service delivery in the Department of Justice as a temporary measure, to take soft-copy arrangements for issuing employment permits.

From the outset of the crisis, in order to assist the HSE and all other medical providers in the State to respond to and to assist with the public health response to the threat of Covid-19, all doctors’ and nurses’ employment permit applications were expedited. This is still ongoing and over 4,000 of those permits were issued in 2021, which put an additional pressure on the system. The Department has seen unprecedented increases in the volume of applications for employment permits over the course of 2021. In total last year, some 27,666 applications were received, representing a 69% increase over the same period in 2020 and a 47% increase based on 2019 figures. This was an 11-year high in applications. Even before Covid-19, therefore, this issue was growing, but Covid-19 has exacerbated it.

My Department issued more than 16,000 employment permits in 2021, and processed approximately 18,000 applications.

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In addition, the extension of categories of employment permits following the latest review of the occupational lists has increased the availability of employment permits for these roles. We made changes in many areas in the autumn, as the Deputy referenced, including the construction sector, horticulture, meat processing and haulage. We have allowed for additional permits to be granted in those areas and that has resulted in about 3,000 more applications being made.

Processing times were also impacted by the HSE cyberattack last year. We are still suffering from that backlog. However, we have dealt with that and we have made changes to the system. Due to the significant additional administrative burden in dealing with these applications and the cyberattack, we put in place extra staff who were temporarily reassigned to assist in the process. That had a direct impact on the processing times. I and officials in my Department, along with the Tánaiste, recognise the impact delays on the processing times for employment permits has on businesses and their workers. A plan of action has been developed to meet the challenges and to bring down the backlog that has built up over recent months. The plan includes both additional staffing and systemic changes. The staffing actions being taken include recruitment of additional permanent and temporary staff, with an increase of 69% on our permanent capacity and 125% when temporary staff are included. On 2 February, additional approval was granted to increase our staffing levels again. Permanent capacity will increase by 125% and overall capacity, which includes permanent and temporary staff, will increase by 225%.

We are now in a position to deal with this backlog quite quickly over the next couple of months and will retain those extra staff in the months ahead to deal with the ongoing demand for permits. We are happy to work with individual sectors, like the haulage sector, on this issue. Last year we proactively removed the limit on the number of people who could come into the country and we worked with the Department of Transport and the Road Safety Authority to get agreement with other countries on the recognition of driving skills. That should assist in sourcing drivers.

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