Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for responding in a constructive way. It is not straightforward to streamline a work permits process and a visa process. What the Department of Justice has to do around visas in terms of security checks and so on can be quite complicated and time consuming. It relies on authorities in the countries people come from and, therefore, it does not always control the timelines in terms of responses. It is not straightforward but we have had initial discussions between the two Departments in terms of trying to streamline that system.

Last year, we signed off on almost 40,000 work permits. This year, the number is similar - it might be 38,000. We are getting through them quickly. There are complications when it comes to visas. We are currently in an economy that is beyond full employment. There are lots of sectors, in particular the hospitality sector but also agriculture, agrifood and construction, in which many vacancies need to be filled. We need to do that by reskilling and upskilling Irish people and making sure others from other parts of the European Union and our Single Market can come and fill those gaps. If that is not possible, we also have to have a streamlined process around bringing in skilled workers from abroad. As I said, we did that for 40,000 people last year and it will be a similar number again this year.

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