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

I acknowledge that every sector of the economy is having difficulties when it comes to labour. It is very difficult to say that this should not have been allowed to happen. It is a result of the fact that we have the fastest growing economy in the EU. We have the largest number of people at work in the history of the State, and we effectively have full employment. It is the mark of a successful economy and society when people want to move there and people are needed to move there to fill jobs of all sorts, be it dental nurses, as the Deputy has raised this morning, those in the construction industry, as raised by Deputy Nash, or those in the hospitality and agriculture sectors, as raised by Deputy O'Donoghue. We see this with economies around the world. We all know that a lot of people did not want to come to Ireland for a long time. It is a great thing when people come and contribute to our economy and society. As I said, there were 40,000 work permit approvals last year, double what it was the previous year, and it will be the same again this year.

I agree with the Deputy. We will have to develop the courses available for people to upskill, reskill and enter into these professions from the outset. As a country, we are growing. Our population is much higher now than it has been in a long time, and that requires more people for various sectors. Not all of those can be brought about domestically. We need, and will continue to need, to bring people in from outside the EEA but also 30,000 came last year from within the EU, and 4,500 from the UK through the common travel area. These are all good things. I would not necessarily say it is a crisis that they are having to come.

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