Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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The matter I raise on the Adjournment concerns the urgent need for the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to reconsider changes she proposes to make to the work permit scheme on 1 June, the need for her to discuss with the relevant workers such proposals and the need for such workers, their unions and the advocacy organisations to be invited to participate in a consultation process given that these workers have made such a significant contribution to Irish society and the Irish economy.

I wish the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, well in his new appointment. However, I hope he begins his work in that Department by relaying a reasonable argument back to the Department and by being able to change minds where it is necessary and in the public interest to do so.

What is being suggested by way of changes to the permit system on 1 June takes no account of the contribution made by work permit holders over a long period of time. Recently, a press release referred to a worker who has been here for nine years and whose family is part of Irish society. If made redundant, in order to find an alternative job, he must wait until that job has been advertised for a minimum of two months. At three months, such a person is illegal in this country and loses rights, including the right to sustain his or her family. It is in breach of every principle of worker protection, including the protections provided by the International Labour Organisation and contained in the conventions Ireland has signed, to put such workers in a vulnerable position.

I have travelled with Members of this House to the United States of America making the case for those Irish people living in the shadows there and anxious to achieve some status and to be recognised. They point out that they have paid their taxes and they want some form of recognition in the United States of America. Could we imagine a situation if they were all given two months to get out of the United States of America yet that is precisely what is being proposed in regard to work permit holders who become redundant in Ireland? What is proposed is unnecessary and is an action by stealth. It is a device to make the position of such people impossible in terms of staying here.

I wish to indicate where my party stands on this matter. I have long been an advocate of Ireland signing the convention guaranteeing the rights of all migrant workers and their families but I have been told by successive Ministers that Ireland will never do so under this Government. I believe in the right of workers from wherever they come to enjoy an equality of rights. These changes in the work permit system do not accord an equality of rights. We look for rights abroad for our own people but over those for whom we have responsibility, we refuse to exercise the same principle.

Over a period, such migrant workers will have paid PRSI and taxes totalling approximately €1.5 billion. They will have paid €10.986 million in registration fees to various bodies and to the Garda national immigration bureau. They will have paid €15.5 million in work permit fees. Some €140 million will have been paid by international students. That is separate from what has been spent by migrant workers in this economy, approximately €2 billion.

We are talking about 30,000 people. There has been a massive reduction of 60% in the number of new work permits issued in the past two years. I appreciate that I am addressing a new Minister of State and I wish him well. However, I do not want him to say tonight that this is a matter over which he has no control. The Government has control and it should now postpone this until we have had adequate talks, so that we may put a different, fairer and more humane system in place.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I am grateful to Deputy Higgins for raising this issue and I thank him for his good wishes.

Since 2004 Irish policy has been to have, where possible, our general labour and skills needs met from within the workforce of the EU. For strategic skills and labour shortages in designated occupations in key economic sectors such as healthcare, information technology and financial services, our policy is to issue employment permits for the employment of non-EEA nationals. The various schemes that give effect to such policies were introduced under the Employment Permits Act 2006. Overall, the Irish experience of immigration has been a positive one with newcomers bringing to Ireland a wide range of economic, social and cultural benefits. The contribution of immigration to the growth of the labour force has been particularly significant.

Economic migration policy has been one facet of industrial development and labour market interventions that facilitated the growth of employment to unprecedented levels in this country. We have now entered more challenging times and the policies that served us well are being enhanced and refocused to ensure that they remain relevant to changing economic conditions. An appraisal of our employment permit arrangements has reaffirmed the long-standing Government policy that preference is given to Irish and EU nationals in filling positions when job vacancies arise. However, our review has also shown that there will be a continuing need for the availability of suitably skilled and qualified immigrant labour to meet specific skills needs where they arise. Therefore, the changes to the administrative arrangements of the employment permit schemes, from 1 June 2009, are intended to strike a balance between our Community preference obligations and the need to ensure that employers are facilitated in meeting high skills needs, if necessary from outside of the European Economic Area.

Consultations on the revised arrangements took place directly with the Irish Business and Employers Confederation and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. Congress in turn facilitated consultations on the new arrangements with its member unions and the Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland, MRCI, all of whose views were received by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and taken into account by the Government in deciding on the final shape of the employment permit schemes.

I should emphasise that work permits will continue to be made available for jobs in eligible job categories where employers have been unsuccessful in their genuine efforts to recruit suitable candidates from within the labour force of the European Economic Area. The measures to be introduced are principally concerned with strengthening the qualifying conditions for the granting of new work permits to non-EEA nationals, for occupations requiring lower skills or qualifications and vacancies for which could increasingly be filled by Irish or EU citizens. The operation of the green card scheme will continue largely unchanged in recognition of the importance of strategic high-level skills to the continuing development of a knowledge-driven, high value added economy.

It should be noted that at any one time no more than 1.5% of the labour force are employment permit holders. Significantly, none of those in possession today of a current employment permit is affected by the revised eligibility criteria for new and renewed permits. Only first-time non-EEA entrants to the system on and from 1 June will be subject to the new permit conditions. Specific changes to eligibility criteria are being implemented for new work permits, renewal of existing permits, work permits for spouses or dependants of principal permit holders, and for permit holders who become redundant.

The principal changes are as follows. From 1 June 2009, for new work permit applications, the labour market needs test will be strengthened by requiring an eight weeks FÁS-EURES advertisement, currently four weeks, plus six days national press advertising, currently three days. I again emphasise that it has been, and continues to be, Government policy to require that employers make a meaningful effort to give preference to Irish and EEA nationals in filling job vacancies. Currently, a vacancy, in respect of which an application for a work permit is being made, must be advertised with the FÁS-EURES employment network for four weeks and additionally in local and national newspapers, for three days, to ensure that, in the first instance a national of the EEA or Switzerland, or in the second instance a national of Bulgaria or Romania, cannot be found to fill the vacancy.

The OECD has recently reported that the strengthening of the labour market needs test is one of the measures most widely adopted by OECD member states in responding to the pressures on labour markets arising from the impact of the world recession. Another key change is that vacancies for work permit applications received on and from 1 June 2009 will be subject to labour market needs tests at both first application and permit renewal stages, and a higher renewal fee. The renewal of work permits for non-EEA nationals accounted for some 50% of the permits issued in 2007 and 2008 but under existing procedures, applications for renewals are not subject to a labour market needs test.

I am aware of the concerns that have been expressed on this issue and I met the MRCI today to consider them. I will give Deputy Higgins an undertaking to meet with the MRCI regularly during the implementation phase of the new arrangements to ensure that its concerns do not arise, in practice, on the ground. We will continue to keep open our relationship with the MRCI to ensure that if those concerns arise they will be dealt with.

Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Will the Minister of State agree to postpone?

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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No, I will not.