Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Richmond. I thank the Deputies for raising this matter. The employment permits system enables Ireland to supplement domestic skills and labour supply by allowing the recruitment of nationals from outside Ireland and the European Economic Area, EEA, where particular skills or expertise cannot be sourced from within the European Economic Area and where such recruitment may benefit the State's economic or social development. This objective must be balanced by the need to ensure there are no suitably qualified Irish or EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one. The system is managed through the operation of the occupation lists, namely, the critical skills list in respect of highly skilled professional roles that are in critically short supply in the labour market and the ineligible occupations list for which a source of labour should be available from within Ireland and the EEA. Where a role is not listed on either the critical skills list or the ineligible occupations list, it is eligible for a general employment permit. These are the groups were are discussing here.

To ensure the employment permits system is aligned with current labour market intelligence, these lists undergo regular review guided by relevant evidence, a public and stakeholder consultation, and with the views of the economic migration interdepartmental group and relevant policy Departments. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is progressing work on the current review of the occupations lists which commenced with a public consultation during summer 2023 and submissions received are under consideration. The role of vehicle mechanic is currently on the ineligible occupations list. Seventeen submissions were received from the transport sector with regard to the broader mechanic role, with six of those specifically referencing a requested change of status for HGV and bus mechanics. The Department of Transport has provided observations on these particular submissions and these are currently being taken into consideration.

The Deputies have asked for the matter to be reviewed and considered. It can be seen that the public consultation was completed during the summer, it is being fully examined at this stage, and the Department of Transport is directly feeding into that process. I do not have a date for how soon that will be completed, but I can assure the Deputies that progress is moving very well as part of concluding that process.

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