Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this Topical Issue and the Minister of State for being here. I will be sharing time with Deputy Kenny. I was prompted to submit this issue due to an unprecedented level of bus service cancellations in my county over recent weeks. It was particularly acute the week before last when approximately 20% of services on the busy 103 route serving Ashbourne and Ratoath were cancelled. Passengers were encouraged to avoid using the busy NX service from Navan and there was similar chaos on the 109 service from Kells and Dunshaughlin. There was outrage and outcry from the public and from the representatives and I am glad to say there has been some welcome improvement in recent days, although we are a long way off perfection. The mid-term was a help. Bus Éireann has commissioned private capacity to fill some of the gaps and there has been some internal outsourcing from the Broadstone depot to some of the regional depots of the scheduled maintenance of buses.

That is the issue I wish to raise with the Minister. When we asked Bus Éireann and the National Transport Authority, NTA, what was going on and what the problem was, one of the issues raised was the shortage of mechanics, and in Bus Éireann's case the shortage of heavy vehicle and bus mechanics. We have seen the advertisements and the ongoing recruitment campaign. One of the key asks from Bus Éireann was that heavy goods vehicle mechanics would be put on the critical skills list. Is this something the Minister of State is considering and which can be done?

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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I support Deputy O'Rourke on this issue. I was over with the NTA this morning in Buswells Hotel and it was an issue we discussed. The difficulty in recruiting mechanics and retaining them in all aspects is clearly something that is causing a huge problem across the entire State. It is not just for buses, it is across everything. The car testing services are having the same problems. It is happening everywhere. There needs to be a recognition that we need to get people to come from wherever we can find them to be able to fill these vacancies because it is having a very negative impact on the service we can provide to the public, especially when it comes to our transport services. We heard Barry Kenny from Irish Rail this morning talking about recruiting people to drive trains. It seems that everywhere and for every critical skill we need in the country, we are simply having difficulty in getting them. I am sure the Minister of State will tell me this is a reflection of an economy that is going very well and has full employment. We know that. Nobody is disputing that but the reality is when children want to get to school and they cannot get a bus because we cannot get a driver for it, we have a problem. When we have people who cannot get to work in many parts of the country because there are scheduling problems because they cannot get drivers, and when the existing buses and the fleet cannot be serviced because we have not got mechanics to service them, we really have to do something to resolve that issue. It is time to recognise this. This particular aspect regarding mechanics for buses and heavy vehicles is an issue but there are more issues as well. There needs to be a review of that whole critical skills aspect of issuing permits for people to come to work in Ireland, and we need to do that quickly because we will run into serious problems in providing services for people if we do not.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Richmond. I thank the Deputies for raising this matter. The employment permits system enables Ireland to supplement domestic skills and labour supply by allowing the recruitment of nationals from outside Ireland and the European Economic Area, EEA, where particular skills or expertise cannot be sourced from within the European Economic Area and where such recruitment may benefit the State's economic or social development. This objective must be balanced by the need to ensure there are no suitably qualified Irish or EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one. The system is managed through the operation of the occupation lists, namely, the critical skills list in respect of highly skilled professional roles that are in critically short supply in the labour market and the ineligible occupations list for which a source of labour should be available from within Ireland and the EEA. Where a role is not listed on either the critical skills list or the ineligible occupations list, it is eligible for a general employment permit. These are the groups were are discussing here.

To ensure the employment permits system is aligned with current labour market intelligence, these lists undergo regular review guided by relevant evidence, a public and stakeholder consultation, and with the views of the economic migration interdepartmental group and relevant policy Departments. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is progressing work on the current review of the occupations lists which commenced with a public consultation during summer 2023 and submissions received are under consideration. The role of vehicle mechanic is currently on the ineligible occupations list. Seventeen submissions were received from the transport sector with regard to the broader mechanic role, with six of those specifically referencing a requested change of status for HGV and bus mechanics. The Department of Transport has provided observations on these particular submissions and these are currently being taken into consideration.

The Deputies have asked for the matter to be reviewed and considered. It can be seen that the public consultation was completed during the summer, it is being fully examined at this stage, and the Department of Transport is directly feeding into that process. I do not have a date for how soon that will be completed, but I can assure the Deputies that progress is moving very well as part of concluding that process.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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Go raibh maith ag an Aire Stáit for that response. It immediately raises the question of timelines and how soon a decision will be made. It is important in advance of that to reiterate the case. I welcome the fact and I am not surprised at all that submissions have been made. It is important this debate is reflected on in the considerations that will be made. It should be a positive decision to include vehicle mechanics on the critical skills list. This is about providing solutions. I agree entirely with Deputy Kenny. It is one element of a wider conversation that needs to be had regarding staffing our transport system in the first instance. It is important to say it is about maintaining the existing level of service but we are ambitious to expand and put on additional services and we need the staff to deliver those.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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I appreciate that work is being done and that the Minister of State is saying the consultation is complete and that progress will be made in due course. We have to recognise that for many people who are waiting to get a bus which does not come because it cannot be serviced, waiting on a report or for something to happen in the future is not any good to them. We need action on this sort of thing immediately. One of the frustrations many experience in both the private and indeed the public sector is that, when they get into this process of seeking employees from outside the European Union and getting work permits for them, it can be a slow and arduous process. They have to advertise in the European Union, prove there is nobody looking for the work and all of this, yet across the European Union and in Ireland, we have many reports from various agencies stating there is a huge shortage of many of these skills and we need to bring them in from outside the jurisdiction. There needs to be haste in providing these permits to get these workers here to make sure we can keep our public services running efficiently.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate the points being made by the Deputies and those points are well known. I thank them for raising them. As I previously indicated, to add or remove an occupation from the list, evidence is sought demonstrating that recruitment difficulties are solely due to genuine shortages within Ireland and across the EEA and not due to other factors such as salary or employment conditions. It is a shortage of the particular skill that is relevant and not about the pay that is available here or the adequacy or inadequacy of the pay rates. Sectors are also required to engage structurally with the public employment service in the Department of Social Protection. This goes without saying in any event and the Deputies will know that. The interdepartmental group on economic migration policy met in recent days, on 26 October, to oversee the review process and analyse the submissions received and evidence available. A report with recommendations for the consideration of the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, is expected by the end of this month, literally in the coming weeks. The areas we have spoken about relating to bus mechanics are under detailed consideration in view of the number of submissions received on that topic.

The submissions about HGV and bus mechanics are being included in those specific deliberations. I know I do not have an exact time, but I am saying confidently that the recommendations will be with the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, in the coming weeks before the end of this month.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank the Minister of State for being here to deal with these Topical Issues and the Deputies who raised the matters.