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

To get to the nub of the question, a decision was made to make a temporary deferral. I have laid out in depth the reason for that here, in our previous discussion on a Bill, and indeed to anyone who has raised a direct question, and I believe Deputy Barry raised it on Questions on Promised Legislation. These deferrals are temporary. The minimum thresholds for work permits are set in all sectors where they apply. We are increasing all those minimum thresholds across the board. We have a very clear roadmap we hope and intend to achieve.

On healthcare assistants and home care workers, we are engaging frankly and openly with both employers and the representative groups to achieve this as quickly as possible. If a JLC is required and if we were to receive such a request, and we have not received a request either from employers or employees in that regard, we would, of course, proactively consider it.

See this speech in context