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

I move:

That Dáil Éireann approves the exercise by the State of the option or discretion under Protocol No. 21 on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, to take part in the adoption and application of the following proposed measure: Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council Establishing an EU Talent Pool, a copy of which was laid before Dáil Éireann on 14th December, 2023.

I am speaking today to seek Dáil Éireann approval to opt in to a proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and the Council establishing an EU talent pool. This proposal has a Title V legal basis in the area of freedom, security and justice. This means that Ireland has the right to decide whether to opt in to this measure under Protocol No. 21 to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The three-month time period for an opt-in to the proposal, under Article 3 of the protocol, expires on 6 March.

This proposal relates to the establishment of an EU talent pool, a web portal that will facilitate the matching of job vacancies of EU-based employers with the profiles of jobseekers from third countries. We in Ireland are blessed to have effective full employment. More than 2.7 million people are at work across the country. Whoever wants a job can have a job. However, in practice, this means that many employers cannot find staff to fill a vacancy. The skills shortage across Ireland and the EU is having a major impact on these businesses and the functioning of the State. Our work permit system allows us to bring workers into Ireland from outside the EU and the wider European Economic Area to work in certain roles in which we have a critical skills shortage, both here in Ireland and across the European Union. The talent pool will help employers to access these workers by reducing barriers to international recruitment for EU employers and promote legal pathways and opportunities for jobseekers from third countries who have the skills required to work in occupations for which there is an EU-wide shortage.

Last year, my Department issued almost 31,000 work permits to staff in a wide variety of sectors, including more than 1,600 doctors, 4,300 nurses and 3,700 healthcare assistants, all working to care for our most vulnerable, 500 engineers, 120 welders and almost 200 carpenters and joiners. These workers are filling the roles we badly need in Ireland. Bringing these workers into Ireland is not only good for our businesses, which so badly need the staff to grow and continue to hire and expand, but it is good for our society. It is good for our hospitals, which need staff, our housebuilding and infrastructure, and our communities and society. Helping these employers to access this staff while we work at home to build our local talent pool through increasing apprenticeships and college places, as well as reskilling and upskilling courses for existing workers, will make a big difference to employers in the wider economy.

Opting in to the EU talent pool regulation would support Ireland's efforts for greater strategic alignment with the EU on migration policy and help foster an ambitious and sustainable EU legal migration policy, attracting the talent we need to our labour markets. For example, the talent pool could potentially enable a skilled nurse from India to be matched with essential vacancies in hospitals in Tralee or Drogheda to improve care. Ireland and other EU member states face similar demographic pressures, with declining birth rates, ageing populations and an ongoing decline in the ratio of the working age population to those who have retired. Facilitating the recruitment of skilled workers will support us in addressing this demographic challenge and bolster our economy.

The EU talent pool is an important aspect of the EU's new skills and talent mobility package which aims to make the EU more attractive to workers from third countries and will further support our economic needs. Participation in the talent pool is voluntary and by opting in, Ireland is not committing to participation in the talent pool itself. This can be decided at a later date based on the merits and value for money of the talent pool. This can be ascertained once it is in operation, which is likely to be in 2028. However, opting in at the outset would allow Ireland to vote on adoption of the measure by the Council as well to fully participate in negotiation and eventual implementation of the measure, if we decide to do so.

The EU talent pool will enable employers to advertise vacancies to attract workers from third countries. Third country jobseekers will be able to search for jobs that match their skills, filtering by country, language, experience required and other criteria. It complements the European employment services, EURES, platform, which facilitates the recruitment of EU-based workers with EU-based employers by broadening the scope to apply to workers outside the EU. It is intended that both of these systems will be interoperable. Jobs may only be advertised on the EU talent pool if those roles cannot be filled within the EEA. The EU talent pool includes an initial list of 42 occupations where there are shortages of skills within the EU, including specialist medical practitioners, software developers, chemical engineers, cooks, waiters and roofers. The list of occupations will be regularly reviewed and Ireland will have the freedom to add remove occupations based on our own labour market needs.

If Ireland were to choose to use the talent pool, only occupations eligible for a critical skills or general employment permit would be able to be advertised on the platform, provided all other criteria such as a labour market needs test are met. The EU talent pool will primarily facilitate the offer of a job, which is an essential prerequisite in order to apply for an employment permit and immigration permission. All of the criteria required for third country nationals to access the Irish labour market would also need to be met, such as minimum salary thresholds end adherence to the 50:50 rule, in which over 50% of the workforce in the company or organisation must be EU citizens. This approach is additional to, and will not supersede, existing measures to reskill and upskill Irish and EU citizens.

The European Commission has estimated that the talent pool initiative will have a positive impact on EU GDP of up €4.2 billion generated by additional wages, with 20 member states participating until 2030.

On wider measures in the EU skills and talent package, Ireland has also engaged in negotiations on the proposal for a recast single permit directive, which would unify application processes for employment permits and for residence purposes. Currently, to work in Ireland, a person from outside the EEA has to first make an application for an employment permit and then make a second application for immigration permission. The single permit directive would unify the issue of a single employment and residence permission reducing the burden on applicants and in processing applications. The Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, intends to bring a memorandum to the Government, with the Minister, Deputy Coveney, on this issue very shortly.

Ireland is also engaged in discussion at EU level on the related and complementary EU talent partnership initiative, another part of the EU's new skills and talent mobility package. This is also intended to match the skills of workers from specific non-EU countries with labour market needs inside the EU. Talent partnerships are a series of agreements that are being negotiated with certain third countries, which currently include Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh, where there are clear skills and an abundance of excess skills that would be very complementary to what we need in Ireland. Like the EU talent pool, the talent partnership initiative is voluntary, with agreements formulated bilaterally between a member state and a third country, with support from the Commission to maximise economies of scale. Unlike the EU talent pool, the talent partnership initiative does not have a legislative basis and, therefore, does not require Ireland to opt in.

The Government is closely following the development of these partnerships with other member states and is examining their potential use, particularly to facilitate seasonal and short-term work patterns. Opting into the talent pool regulation would demonstrate that Ireland supports an ambitious and sustainable EU legal migration policy for attracting talent to our labour markets and creating safe and legal pathways to reach Europe. It would also support Ireland's efforts to ensure greater strategic alignment with the rest of the EU on migration. There is no legal or practical impediment to Ireland opting into this proposal and no cost will be incurred unless Ireland decides to participate in the talent pool once it is operational in 2028.

I commend the proposal that Ireland exercise its opt-in to this measure to the House. I thank the Deputies present for their consideration of this matter. I sincerely hope we see it approved in due course.

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