Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister got it right. From what he just said, he is now looking at a commonsense approach. In other words, the visa is through the Department of Justice and his Department. If they can work together, rather than working in two separate Departments, and do applications together, it would speed up the process of getting people in who need a visa for their permits. That seems to be the major problem. When it comes to visas and permits, it goes to one route, then the other and it takes too long. It would be nice if they worked in tandem and came together on applications that will help critical employment into the country. The people helping this country at the moment are students coming here for education and languages. They can only work 20 hours a week and they find the cost of living very high. During peak season, they can work 40 hours. They are the ones actually helping us at the moment in the hospitality sector to try to keep it going. I agree with what the Minister said. I look forward to seeing both Departments working together to help this situation speedily.

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