Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for being here this morning to take the question. I want to discuss the delays businesses and employees are experiencing when applying for work permits, particularly permits for haulage companies. I am under no illusion as to the gravity of the situation. I understand there has been an unprecedented volume of applications for these permits over recent years. Nonetheless, there are significant problems. There is a particular problem in my constituency of Cork North-Central and in my neighbouring constituency of Cork East where most of the haulage businesses in the south are based.

I am regularly contacted by companies regarding delays in processing and accessing work permits for employees, particularly outside of the EU. There is already a shortage of haulage drivers, as we know. They were recently added to the critical skills list as a profession. The Irish Road Haulage Association warned earlier in the month of a severe driver shortage, which could impact the supply of goods across Ireland in the lead-up to Christmas. The association has been clear in its calls for urgent intervention to assist the sector.

I note that the Oireachtas transport committee recently cited three key concerns. One of those concerns is the barrier to international recruitment, including time-consuming administrative processes across multiple Government Departments for hiring qualified drivers. Speaking from my own experience in this regard, some of these applications have been going on in excess of 12 months. The Department, in response to parliamentary questions, will often cite that there is a lack of information or there is incorrect information on the application, but the turnaround time and the lag in between the processing of those various correspondences is very long and drawn out. A company that contacted me earlier can be used as an example. In early March 2024, it initially contacted me about a work permit issue, which was eventually resolved, but an issue then presented with visas, and they are still outstanding to this day. That is a year and a half. The process appears disjointed, likely due to the number of Departments involved. It is my understanding that a haulier could face a two-year wait to hire a driver from a non-EU country, consisting of five different Departments.

Surely it is well acknowledged right across the floor at this stage that between the visas and the work permits, something falls down in between. Regardless of whether it is the time lag I referred to earlier or a cross-departmental lag, it is contributing to the excessive waiting list problem we are experiencing. Surely somebody needs to look at how we can co-ordinate the Departments better to streamline this service to the benefit of everybody because we are crying out for these drivers. I do not think there is anybody in this Chamber who has not been approached by business people like couriers, hauliers and people in other professions. They are urgently seeking these drivers. Can the Minister of State confirm if he or his senior Minister have met cross-departmentally with the Departments of transport and justice to streamline the cross-departmental employment status of these employees? Can he also advise the steps that his Department is taking to address ongoing delays? Can he advise if he or his Department are engaged with the Irish Road Haulage Association?

Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for raising this issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Burke, who could not be here this morning. I welcome the opportunity to address the issue of employment permit processing and its impact on businesses and prospective employees.

Ireland operates a managed, demand-led employment permits system under the Employment Permits Act 2024. This system supports our labour market by enabling non-EEA nationals to take up employment in sectors where genuine skills or labour shortages exist. It is underpinned by defined eligibility criteria and a statutory review mechanism for refused applications. The Department has made significant progress in recent years to improve the efficiency of the system in response to rising demand. In 2024, we issued a record 39,400 permits from 46,600 applications received. The launch of employment permits online, EPO, in April 2025 marked a major digital transformation, introducing a modern, cloud-based system that streamlines how permits are submitted, processed and tracked. As with any system transition, some short-term pressures have emerged. However, the Department continues to prioritise the timely processing of applications and remains focused on maintaining a high standard of service. Turnaround times remain well below the levels experienced during peak demand periods and compare favourably with international norms. The new system’s enhanced validation features are already helping to reduce refusals on technical grounds, and this in turn is expected to ease pressures on appeals. The Department has also allocated additional resources to ensure that initial applications are processed as efficiently as possible, while continuing to improve appeal timelines.

Appeals processing has seen increased volumes, particularly in the food and hospitality sector. Many of these relate to revised eligibility criteria for chef roles. The Department is actively working to reduce appeal wait times and expects improvements as the system stabilises. l am not aware of any specific delays in the processing of employment permits. However, in an operation of this scale, it is to be expected that applications will be at various stages of processing. Some may take longer due to additional checks or because they are subject to appeal, both of which are standard features of a robust and fair system. The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment remains focused on ensuring the employment permits system is agile, fair and responsive to Ireland's evolving labour market.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State. I know it is not his direct remit, and I appreciate him coming in and delivering the script, but there is very little information in relation to how many applications people are currently waiting for, and there is no information in relation to numbers waiting in excess of three, six and 12 months. I ask the Minister if State to bring that back in order that the information could be provided to us by way of supplementary information. It would paint a picture for us. I do not think it is endemic to my part of Cork. Deputy Eoghan Kenny is in north Cork, and I assume he is hearing the same. I would appreciate if the Minister of State could take that back to the officials to give us numbers of how many people are waiting and for certain periods of time be they in excess of six, 12, 18 months and so on.

The Minister of State said that any system needs to be agile. That goes without saying, but I am genuinely saying to him that from the cases I have been dealing with, the system is far from agile. We are talking about turnaround times of three months just to get an acknowledgement and a letter back. All being fair, if people submitted the correct information at the time of application, there might be no need for supplementary information and all that, and I take that as a given.

Nonetheless, the system is far from agile because, like any system, in particular an online system, there will be mistakes and errors, people ticking the wrong boxes or whatever. I do not think it is fair to describe the system as agile.

I would appreciate if the Minister of State could make available the numbers I have requested. The reply states the Department is working actively to reduce appeal wait times, but it has provided nothing in terms of statistics or facts. Rather, it is about broad strokes such as a reference to reduce appeal wait times. The very least I would expect from an answer is for the Minister of State to say the Department has reduced appeal wait times by 20% in the past year and by 40% over the past three years. Again, the answer is lacking detail. I would appreciate if the Minister of the State could take my comments back to the Minister.

Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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I thank Deputy O'Sullivan. I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke. I heard the issues the Deputy raised and I hear them in my office. There are many delays in certain types of work permits, in particular in the transport sector. There are many transport companies in the west of Ireland, in particular Galway. I have met many and one of their major issues is trying to source drivers. In terms of bringing in drivers from abroad, the work permit system is taking a lot longer than it should. I will bring back the Deputy's comments to the Minister and Department. I will not read out my closing statement because it is the same as what I said at the beginning. I will ask the Minister whether something can be done to speed of these applications. I thank the Deputy for raising the issue.