Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The explanatory memorandum states that: "The purpose of this Bill is to consolidate and update the legislative provisions that regulate the Employment Permits system, namely the Employment Permits Acts of 2003 and 2006". I want to take the opportunity to thank the staff in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. I do not want to single out anyone but there is one specific lady who is outstanding in her job and bends over backwards in every way, shape and form to help us get permits for doctors, chefs and many others. That lady is more than willing to help with any work permit that we have to make representations on. Sometimes we forget to thank people who work in the Departments. We maybe critical but you should call a spade a spade too.

At the moment, I am dealing with a doctor in west Cork. It is very annoying. He has been working in Ireland for more than five weeks but he cannot get a PPS number. While I am making representations for him, I find it hard to believe that in these times of technology and fast turnaround times that it can take so long to get a doctor a PPS number. The man needs to get paid and without this number, he cannot be paid. He feels his hands are tied and that if he does not get his PPS number soon, he will have to go back to his own country. It is hard to believe when we can give out PPS numbers to people fleeing war-torn countries with no identification that we are having trouble getting a PPS number for a doctor.

I know of another lady in west Cork who came here on a stamp zero. She is a grandmother. Her daughter came to Ireland years ago. She married an Irish man and had children. The grandmother has no brothers or sisters and no other family member in the country she is from. She only has her daughter, her son-in-law and her grandchild in Ireland. The problem is that when the family originally applied for her to come here, they had plenty of money themselves. Now, because of Covid and other factors, they do not have the same amount of money available to them. They are being told that this poor lady, the grandmother, may have to go back to the country she came from where she has no family. Her family is here and she should be able to stay at least on compassionate grounds. There are a lot of issues like that where small frivolous reasons mean a person has to return even though they may be elderly and their nearest relatives are in Ireland.

There is also another man in west Cork who came to Ireland to work. He was working for an employer who applied for a work permit but he did not like the job. That can happen. He is a human being. When you apply for a job, you might not fall in love with it when you get it. He has the opportunity to move to another job. That should be facilitated in some way. I know it is difficult to strike a fair balance but unfortunately he was not allowed to do so. I know of a restaurant in west Cork, which is waiting for work permits for two chefs but the hoops they have to jump through are enormous and the waiting period before they can apply is ridiculous. I appreciate that we get a lot of help through the Minister of State's office to sort out a lot of issues. This is a huge issue in west Cork, especially during the tourism season. I look forward to working with the Minister of State to make sure these people get the opportunity to stay.

See this speech in context