Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House to address this Commencement matter. I am raising the issue of the need for chefs to be added to the critical skills employment permit list. The issue of the shortage of skilled labour in the hospitality sector, and of chefs in particular, has been deemed critical by the hospitality industry. The Restaurants Association of Ireland, RAI, estimates that more than 5,000 chefs will be required by 2018 to fill vacancies and to remedy the shortage of skilled labour in the hospitality sector in general.

While new apprenticeships have had some impact in alleviating the current situation, it is my understanding that they are not sufficient to meet current demand in the short to medium term. In fact, it is estimated that it will be three to four years before the new apprenticeship and mentoring initiatives which are coming on stream will have any impact at all on the current situation. The only short or medium-term solution to this crisis therefore is for the hospitality sector to partner with chef training colleges worldwide to attract qualified chefs to Ireland. The main obstacle to this, however, is the issue of obtaining work permits for student chefs and qualified chefs. As it stands, chefs are not on the list of occupations which are eligible for a permit on the list maintained by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, with the exception of executive chefs, head chefs, sous chefs and specialist chefs earning in excess of €30,000 per year. This, of course, rules out any hope of restaurant owners recruiting student chefs from abroad to get around the shortage of potential employees in this country.

Occupations such as senior health services and public health managers and directors are on the Department's critical skills employment permit list, yet it is my understanding that the HSE has a glut of these professionals already employed. Other professionals given special status at the moment include: accountants and tax consultants; environment health professionals; quality assurance and regulatory professionals; sales, marketing and related associate professionals; web design and development professionals, etc. The Department also has a list of those professions eligible for internship employment permits. This list mirrors the list for critical skills employment permits and chefs are not covered on this list either.

It is interesting to note that the Department last updated its work permit eligibility list on 3 April 2017. At that time the critical shortage of chefs was already well documented and publicised. I am aware that the RAI has met with Department officials on this issue approximately four times in the past 18 months, but I have been contacted by individuals in the industry, such as people running hotels and restaurants. In the past four years they have made a submission on the issue every six months.I understand the Department has informed them that it is not keen to offer two-year temporary visas for chefs at the moment. I would like to know whether the Minister will reconsider this position.