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

I will raise those issues with the Tánaiste. On the action plan, it will speed up processing times. The Department expects to see improvements in the backlog by the end of quarter 1 and that it will be substantially reduced by the end of quarter 2 of this year. It is monitoring new permit demand on a daily basis and will react quickly by further increasing capacity if predicted demand levels are exceeded.

The Department updates the employment permit processing timelines on its website on a weekly basis and regularly issues updates on relevant employment permit matters to trusted partners. It engages on an ongoing basis with enterprise agencies, IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, businesses, sectoral representative groups and individual companies to keep them updated on the employment permits system, including processing times and the Department's action plan.

As I said, I will relay the Senator's suggestions to the Tánaiste.