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

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which is at the forefront of our minds as Deputies in each area trying to support those who need care in the home. Ireland's employment permits system is managed through the operation of the critical skills and ineligible occupations lists, which determine roles that are either in critically short supply or are ineligible for an employment permit. These lists undergo regular, evidence-based review, guided by relevant research, public and stakeholder consultation and the views of the economic migration interdepartmental group.

My Department chairs the economic migration interdepartmental group to oversee the review process, which includes membership drawn from senior officials of key Departments, including the Department of Health in this case. The aim of the group is to promote an integrated approach to address labour and skills shortages in the economy. This includes assessing proposals received through the public consultation for changes to the occupations lists.

We announced changes in June 2021 to assist in the shortages being experienced in private and voluntary nursing home establishments and hospital settings. These employers can now apply for the general employment permit for non-European Economic Area, EEA, nationals wishing to take up employment in the State. Since January this year, about 1,873 employment permits for healthcare assistants have been issued to more than 193 nursing homes. Therefore, this scheme is working quite well. It involves a great deal of training and upskilling as well, and an ongoing commitment to training, which will help the sector overall.

In addition, to help alleviate some of the ongoing skills shortages, we announced further changes in June this year to enhance access to employment permits for other key professional roles in the health sector. These changes included roles that may be employed in the private and voluntary nursing home sector, such as occupational therapists, physiotherapists, podiatrists and chiropodists etc. Employment in these occupations is now eligible for the critical skills employment permit, which again should help to bring more people into the sector.

Officials of my Department are now actively engaged with the Department of Health regarding recruitment challenges for the care sector. A major focus in this regard is care in the home. My Department is a member of the cross-departmental strategic workforce advisory group. It is chaired by the Department of Health, and the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is in charge of that and tasked with considering the recruitment and retention challenges faced by the care sector. The Department continues to keep the employment permits system under review in light of changing labour market circumstances. We will respond to the advisory work group when it presents its findings. I understand it is due to report in September. We have engaged directly with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, on this issue and she is very concerned about the shortage of talent in this area. Resulting from that, we will be able to adjust the work permit schemes, if need be, to accommodate this situation. As I said, we do have the ongoing review quite regularly. This issue was examined in the previous two reviews. There were issues around the contracts on offer and terms and conditions, and we must work on these aspects too as best we can.

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