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

A couple of hundred intra-company transfers happened last year but, to be frank, that is far fewer than we would have liked because people simply did not apply. In many of the multinational companies who have chosen to locate their European head offices in Ireland or to establish very big footprints here, the management systems require people to spend a year or two in another country to develop their skills. It is a requirement but, unfortunately, if you cannot bring your spouse with you, that requirement makes Ireland a less attractive place for top talent in those companies. We are actively engaging, as I have mentioned, because this is now having a detrimental effect on our economy. The best talent is not coming here under the intra-company transfer work permit system because of the status quo. We have done an awful lot of work to reform our work permit system. Much of it was done by my predecessor, Deputy English. That is feeding into an overall reform whereby the work permit and visa systems will be merged into one. I hope that, when that is achieved, this issue will also be favourably resolved.

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