Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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60. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if consideration will be given to merging the employment permit and visa application processes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62109/22]

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Will consideration be given to merging the employment permit and visa application processes?

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this question. This is an important area and one the Department has concentrated on a great deal in recent years. We have made efforts to put in place the right team to manage the permits that have been applied for through the Department.

Much has already been done to improve the employment permit system. My Department is already focused on improving the service, with initiatives such as: the trusted partner registration system; the introduction of the electronic employment permit; and the multisite general employment permit for doctors. Waiting times for employment permit processing have been greatly reduced this year. They are now taking approximately three to eight business days to process, which is well down from where it was in January, when it was taking four or five months. A major change has happened there.

Ireland has a clear division between economic migration and general immigration policies. A recipient of an employment permit undergoes a separate application process with the Department of Justice for a visa to enter the State if they are a citizen of a visa-required country. Over 60 non-European Economic Area countries, such as the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil, are not in the visa-required category so their citizens do not have to apply for an entry visa from the Department of Justice after they get an employment permit from our Department. In time, we would like to see the development of a single application procedure for work permits and entry visas.

My Department and the Department of Justice are currently establishing an interdepartmental group to examine the legal and operational changes required to deliver a more seamless customer experience for users of the employment permit and entry visa systems. It is expected that recommendations from this group could be made to Government within the next six months. As part of that working arrangement, the Tánaiste, the Minister for Justice, our officials and I had a working session to tease through the options we have in front of us on this to try to align our systems. This would ensure we would be in a position to deliver a faster and more efficient service to those who are applying for visas and permits. My Department is building a new employment permits IT system that will take advantage of the latest technologies to deliver a fast and efficient service. We will ensure that the new system is developed in tandem with the Department of Justice in order that both systems can deliver a more seamless service into the future.

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for the work he has done in this area and for improving the service dramatically. We had a huge problem with junior doctors coming in. It has been agreed that 1,000 permits will be issued as general employment permits for those who want to come in as home care workers. How will that be fast-tracked? There is a huge shortage of home care workers. We need to make sure we have the appropriate criteria and training for those who come in.

The second part to that question is as follows. If you have people here who are on stamp 2 visas already, will they be entitled to apply for one of those permits?

If a person has an employer who is prepared to employ them, are they entitled to apply for a permit even though they are already here in Ireland from outside the EU under a stamp 2 visa?

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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To answer the question in reverse, my understanding is that the answer is "Yes". While every case is slightly different, generally once somebody is legally permitted to be in this State, they can apply for a work permit. I can deal with the Deputy on specific cases.

Regarding home care assistants, thankfully, we have made some progress on this. The Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Butler, and I, and our Departments, came together with a working arrangement since last March to do some research in this area and engage all the stakeholders and providers of these services to see how we could best respond to a shortage of available talent to work in the home to provide care. The report contained 16 recommendations. If we implement all these recommendations, in the long run, they will be able to deal with a shortage of talent locally through training, initiatives, campaigns and marketing. In the short term, there was a recommendation that our Department would sanction home care assistants and take them off the ineligible occupation list. The ask was for 1,000 permits to be facilitated and that is something we have agreed to fast track. I hope to be able to make an announcement on that in the next couple of days because it is an important area. I know the Deputy has raised this issue a lot as it is something he is anxious about so I am glad it is finally moving in the right direction.

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Regarding the amalgamation of both application processes, the Minister of State is saying it will take six months. Going back to the original question, which is about the amalgamation of the permit application and the visa application, does the Minister of State believe we can have one system in place? I know this will take some time between the Departments to work out.

Farmers are another group that have a huge shortage of available workforce. What are the criteria for issuing permits for people who want to come in and work on farms? What number are we talking about in that case?

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The aim is that within the next six months the working group involving both Departments will bring forward some suggestions about how we can align our systems. We will set out a plan for establishing a single application procedure to cover employment permits and entry visas. It is about how we can align our systems. We managed to fast track and fix the delays in our Department by increasing the number of staff available, changing some of the IT systems and putting long-term changes in place. The Department of Justice is also making changes in respect of staff and trying to match up with us in our decisions so that is one area where we can improve the timelines. Over the next six months, we will look at different mechanisms and systems whereby we can align the application procedures and try to get to a one-stage process if we can. I can report back to the Deputy as that work is carried out over the months ahead.

In respect of the other category, similar to the home care assistants, we have been focusing over the past couple of months on three main categories. One would be around dairy farm assistants, bus drivers and home care assistants. We did make changes for farmers last year in the last review and, hopefully, I will be in a position to inform of changes in the next couple of days. There is an ask based on research for quite a high number of permits to be facilitated for dairy farm assistants and I hope to be able to inform the Deputy of good news in that regard in the next couple of days.