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

The aim is that within the next six months the working group involving both Departments will bring forward some suggestions about how we can align our systems. We will set out a plan for establishing a single application procedure to cover employment permits and entry visas. It is about how we can align our systems. We managed to fast track and fix the delays in our Department by increasing the number of staff available, changing some of the IT systems and putting long-term changes in place. The Department of Justice is also making changes in respect of staff and trying to match up with us in our decisions so that is one area where we can improve the timelines. Over the next six months, we will look at different mechanisms and systems whereby we can align the application procedures and try to get to a one-stage process if we can. I can report back to the Deputy as that work is carried out over the months ahead.

In respect of the other category, similar to the home care assistants, we have been focusing over the past couple of months on three main categories. One would be around dairy farm assistants, bus drivers and home care assistants. We did make changes for farmers last year in the last review and, hopefully, I will be in a position to inform of changes in the next couple of days. There is an ask based on research for quite a high number of permits to be facilitated for dairy farm assistants and I hope to be able to inform the Deputy of good news in that regard in the next couple of days.

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