Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the response from the Minister of State, who has also outlined his disappointment about the uptake. It behoves us to look at this again, albeit that the initial quota was announced in December 2022. Seven months is not a long time, in particular in terms of how we deal with issues here. There is a pay threshold that can prove problematic for what are often relatively lower paid jobs. I am not saying I am advocating this but given the poor uptake, is there a case for looking at the labour market needs assessment in approving these applications? I understand there is also a 50:50 rule, where 50% of the workforce in a business might have to be domestically based, and a maximum of 50% can be brought in from abroad. Is there a case to look at that?

Finally, a recent report on RTÉ Radio 1 stated that migrant workers in this space are paid anything up to 20% less in comparison to their Irish counterparts. Is there a case to look at increasing the pay and conditions for people in that sector?

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