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

Following constructive engagement with the home care sector on 16 December 2022, my predecessor announced changes to the employment permits system to allow home carers and care workers to become eligible for general employment permits. We know there is a lack of carers in Ireland and I am pleased that the employment permit system is able to help in this regard. This shows how responsive the work permit system can be in reacting to the needs of employers and, more importantly, people across the country. Thorough engagement led to this decision. In March 2022, a cross-departmental strategic workforce advisory group was established by the Department of Health, to examine the strategic workforce challenges in publicly and privately provided front-line carer roles in home care and long-term residential care for older people.

The report from this group contained 16 recommendations spanning recruitment, pay and conditions, barriers to employment, training and professional development and sectoral reform. The report recommended that the Government enable the employment in Ireland of non-EU and non-EEA care workers in the sector. In line with this recommendation, a quota of 1,000 general employment permits for care workers and home carers was introduced.

Since the introduction of this quota, 138 permits have been granted, with 13 applications refused. The precise number of applications awaiting processing in this category cannot be determined definitively as these applications have yet to be processed and assigned an appropriate standard occupational classification. However, a manual check indicates that approximately 15 applications await processing.

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