Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A Chathaoirligh, I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to raise this matter. I know from listening to all the requests that have been made to you that it is hard to include everybody. We all understand that you have to make these decisions.

I welcome the Minister of State. I am sorry I missed meeting him at the battle in Navan last Sunday when the Rossies, Roscommon, took down the Royals, Meath. I only realised when I was talking to the Minister of State earlier that he was there, but I am sure there will be further battles. It was all good and friendly in the end despite the little bit of ruaile buaile.

Before I outline an example of the serious situation I am raising, I wish to acknowledge that the Minister of State is working hard on this matter. We will have a friendly discussion about it and I am sure the Minister of State knows where I am coming from on this issue, which is the serious delay in processing work permits through the employment permits online system, EPOS. It should take six to eight weeks to process work permits online. Employers are encouraged to use online systems, and there is a trusted partner status for business which is supposed to make it faster. I will give the Minister of State an example of a local business. I am sure the Minister of State has such examples in his county and that he is aware of them throughout the country.

This company has trusted partner status. It applied for permits last October. It desperately needs workers. It is a huge firm and it is expanding nationwide all the time.It looked for permits last October. The good news is that two of the permits came through in recent days but 18 weeks later it is still waiting for a number of others to come.

The online system states it is processing applications from 29 September. This is at a time of unprecedented difficulty for business in accessing staff. We would think that we should really be speeding up the process. I note the Minister of State announced some decisions last autumn. As he knows, business is crying out for staff. The latest CIF survey found that 83% stated there had been a year-on-year increase in the cost of labour in the past quarter. A similar proportion expects this trend to continue. Almost three quarters of those surveyed in the CIF report stated they had difficulties in accessing staff. The one thing that strikes me, whether in a small town, Dublin city or a major regional town, is the number of notices that can be seen in windows of small and not so small companies crying out for staff. It is very noticeable.

In the current circumstances we need to speed up the processing times for standard and trusted partner applications. The Minister of State knows as well as I do, and perhaps better, that between 30,000 and 40,000 jobs are needed in hospitality. We have issues with carers. The money is there and the Government has provided significant money but we cannot get carers. Haulage companies cannot get drivers. In virtually every area of Irish business life today the jobs are not there. We desperately need these jobs as quickly as possible to fill the vacancies. Our economy will be very strong. All the indicators are that over the coming three to four years we will be in an extremely strong position. It would be a pity if it were to be destroyed by a lack of jobs in a number of sectors at present. I know it is a challenge for the Government. I know it is not easy. I appreciate the Minister of State is doing his best. I look forward to hearing his reply.