Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am very grateful to the Deputy for raising this matter. I share his desire to see these workers added to the critical skills list as soon as possible. The Department and the Government propose to carry out, in late August or September, a full evaluation of the eligible list, the ineligible list, and crucially the critical skills list for work permits for the first time in two years. It has been done on an ad hocbasis over the past two years, and when that review is done, I will be sure to take Deputy Griffin's points on board and ask him to make a submission. Over the past year more than 40,000 workers came to Ireland from outside the EEA and the EU. There is a huge gap in this particular area when it comes to ensuring we can fill these much-needed vacancies.

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