Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this matter, which is of concern to him and his colleagues. I am taking it on behalf of my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

The employment permit system is managed through the use of lists that designate highly skilled and ineligible occupations. These lists are subject to regular review in order to ensure they remain relevant to the needs of the economy. On 27 October, the Minister of State, Deputy English, announced the most recent changes to the system. This was the third biannual review undertaken since the onset of Covid-19 and the impact of the pandemic on the labour market was a significant consideration in the review's outcomes. As the economy emerged from the pandemic, an increased demand for employment permits became apparent. The changes announced targeted the more immediate skills and labour shortages across a number of key economic sectors, which the Senator mentioned. In order to address demand, the main changes included a substantial opening up of eligibility for the construction and agricultural sectors. Additional permits allocated to the agricultural sector alone totalled over 3,000, with a consequential impact on processing times.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment saw unprecedented increases in the volume of applications for employment permits over the course of 2021. From the start of January to the end of December 2021, 27,666 applications were received, representing a 69% increase over the same period in 2020 and a 47% increase on 2019, which itself represented an 11-year high in applications. The Department issued 16,275 employment permits last year and processed a total of 17,968 applications, which represents a significant volume of activity. This has had a significant impact on processing times, with applications waiting up to three times as long to be processed as was previously the case.The Department recognises the impact delays in the processing times for employment permits has on businesses and their workers and it has developed an action plan to meet the challenges and reduce the backlog that was built up over recent months. This action plan includes additional staff and systemic changes. By late March this year, the processing team will have more than tripled in size compared to early November 2021, with additional temporary reassignment of staff and increased overtime.