Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Having 258,000 more people at work than before Covid-19 struck is an extraordinary achievement by the Government. This has brought prosperity to every region. We have record levels of work permits being issued and record levels of inward migration, with 92,000 people, gross, last year, or a net 60,000. The Minister and his Department have handled that huge surge well, despite the emerging pressures.

We must, however, take a more strategic approach to managing migration. I say this based, essentially, on two grounds. First, as a mature, high-value economy, we want to ensure high standards of workers' rights. In that regard, we are bringing in measures such as auto-enrolment, parental leave, sick pay, a living wage and remote working entitlements. This means we are strengthening the position of workers, as we should do. It also means, of course, that we should take the same attitude towards migrant workers and ensure they also enjoy good working conditions. I worry that the way in which our system has grown in recent years means it has tended to treat migrant workers in ways that are quite discriminatory. We have not given those who are approved for general work applications the same rights to move away from their first employer and to work with others. We have also not given those workers the same rights for their families to join them. I point this aspect out because, by and large, these are people who are making a long-term commitment to Ireland to work in sectors like farming and healthcare. We must move away from issuing permits linked to employers in this rigid way and give people who have come here and who are accepted better access to the labour market, faster family permits and more support to ensure they are properly integrated.

Second, we are facing severe infrastructural deficits. We run the risk that reactionary political pressures will grow in respect of the rightful decisions we are taking to accommodate people fleeing violence in Ukraine and to accommodate the growing needs in this regard. We must, therefore, ensure that our approach focuses on infrastructural deficits. I fear some sectors are continuing to rely on migrant workers when they should have moved to develop the sort of apprenticeship and training models that would give them permanent support within their own sectors rather than continuing to depend on migration. We must focus the contributions of migrant workers in areas where we face particular challenges, such as in retrofitting and in building to address the housing crisis. Equally, this must also happen in the sectors identified by the high-level group on skills: artificial intelligence design, zero carbon housing, etc. These are very important. Therefore, we must move to a more strategic approach in this area. It must be one that looks beyond narrow supply and demand factors and considers the wider economic context to ensure we protect the sustainability of our economy.

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