Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am more sorry for the result in Meath then missing Eugene at the match. I hope we will get a chance for revenge. I am also sorry I was not able to meet Senator Murphy on the day he was in Navan. I was supporting Meath against Roscommon and supporting Trim in Dublin. We lost on both occasions. We will recover and get back.

We have discussed this issue quite a lot in the House. Most Senators were on the ball and raised it last autumn before others knew it would be a big issue. At the time we tried to respond and I gave commitments that we would make changes to staffing levels and put a plan in place to deal with it. Those plans are in place but we cannot see the results just yet. To be very clear and honest, we are not happy with the time limits. Nobody could stand over timelines of up to 16 to 18 weeks, and 20 weeks in some cases, to deal with a permit. It is a complicated system. We are trying to improve that situation. The sheer volume of applications is part of the difficulty.

We are not happy with it. I am not happy with it, the Tánaiste is not happy with it and neither is the Department. We are putting in place plans to fix this once and for all. I am not trying to defend it but I will give the background to what is behind it. Staff have been working extremely hard. They have been working overtime and at weekends to try to get these applications processed. We will get there but it will take a few more months for the timelines to reduce. There will be improvements from this month on.

I thank Senator Murphy for raising the matter. Ireland's employment permit system continued to operate throughout the pandemic. The Department made a Covid-19 contingency plan in March 2020, moving the employment permit operations seamlessly to a totally remote working environment. It adjusted operations to accept all documents and applications electronically. This in itself was a major change and we handled it at the time. Ireland is one of the few countries that has managed to keep the employment permit system fully operational throughout the crisis. The Department agreed with the immigration service delivery in the Department of Justice soft-copy arrangements for issuing employment permits as a temporary measure. We tried to respond immediately to the challenges that Covid brought to us.

From the outset of the crisis in order to assist the HSE and all other medical providers in the State to respond to and assist with the public health response to the threat of Covid-19, all doctor and nurse employment permit applications were expedited. This is ongoing and it is a priority. Last year, there were close to 5,000 permit applications for medical personnel.

The Department has seen unprecedented increases in the volume of applications for employment permits over the course of 2021. In total last year, 27,666 applications were received. This represented a 69% increase over the same period in 2020 and a 47% increase on 2019, which in itself represented an 11-year high. The Department issued 16,275 employment permits last year and also processed a total of close to 18,000 applications. There has been a serious ramp up of activity and volume. Quite a high number of applications are still being processed. This reflects that there is a strong employment market out there and we are correct to say there will be a jobs-led recovery. This brings with it complications such as these that have to be teased out.

In addition, the extension of categories of employment permits following the latest review of the occupation list has increased availability of employment permits for these roles. This was in response to wishes raised here with regard to horticulture, food production, meat processing plants and other areas highlighted in the Seanad. I gave a commitment we would respond to this and we did so last October. This has resulted in thousands more applications. Processing times have been impacted by this increase in demand and because of the HSE cyberattack. As a result of the cyberattack, employment permit applications associated with doctors' rotation, which occurs twice yearly in January and July, had to be submitted manually or through other non-standard methods. This resulted in a significant additional administrative burden dealing with these applications requiring staff to be temporarily reassigned to assist in the process. This had a direct impact on wider processing times for other permit applications. This had a knock-on effect throughout 2021.

I and officials in the Department recognise the impact delays in processing times for employment permits have for businesses and their workers. A plan of action is being developed to meet the challenges and reduce the backlog built up in recent months. The plan includes additional staffing and systematic changes. The staffing actions being taken include the recruitment of additional permanent and temporary staff. This is an increase of 69% of our permanent capacity and 125% including temporary staff to deal with the backlog.

On 2 February additional approval was granted to increase permanent capacity by 125% and to increase overall capacity by 225% from the original yearly base of early November. This means the processing team will have more than tripled in size by late March compared with last November. The temporary reassignment of staff from other areas in the Department with relevant skills is also something we are implementing. We also have maximum hours of overtime for the existing team and former processors. We are trying everything to deal with these applications. There is a backlog now and we predict there will be ongoing demand for these permits. Many sectors are under pressure to find the staff they need.

We will review the sectors again in the coming weeks. We will start that process. We have tried to respond to genuine proven needs where the evidence is there. Senator Murphy mentioned carers and they are dear to the heart of everyone here, particularly carers in the home. There is an issue with gathering all of the evidence we need to prove we need to use the permit system to solve it. At present they are not within the permit structure. We are willing to look at this. We have engaged over the past year but evidence has not been gathered. I ask any sector or employer having difficulty to engage with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the sector's parent Department. Employers should also engage with the Department of Social Protection, which can identify through the high numbers of people on the pandemic unemployment payment or jobseeker's payments whether people are available to do some of these jobs. Training is taking place. Anybody who is short of staff should look at the Pathways to Work document that sets out the policy. It brings together all of the Departments in an approach to assist employers and employees to fill some of these jobs, if at all possible.