Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House today. First, it is important to acknowledge the work done by the Department of Social Protection in issuing PPS numbers, in particular in the last year when 300,000 were issued. The Department has done so speedily, particularly for Ukrainian citizens coming to Ireland. This Commencement matter has a lot to do with retail and hospitality, so I am glad this Minister of State is taking it. From my experience, and from queries received in my office, there are a lot of businesses in Clonmel, County Tipperary, which are looking to employ people. We are fortunate at the moment that there are 2.6 million people working in Ireland. We have a challenge getting people from outside Ireland to come here and fill the jobs that are vacant. The Minister of State will know, as it is under his remit, that last year almost 40,000 people arrived in Ireland from outside of the EU having successfully applied for work permits.

A lot of the time businesses are applying for work permits on behalf of the individual. Those work permits are being processed much quicker now than they were one year to 18 months ago. This is hugely welcome. The Minister of State's Department is doing fantastic work on that front. Once they receive their work permit, they have to apply for a visa, which still takes quite some time. That needs to become quicker. We now have a third issue, about which I am receiving a large number of queries from businesses, which is simply getting the PPS number afterwards. A lot of these people are coming from outside of the EU, in particular from Asia. Businesses are putting a lot of money into getting work permits done, and to get people over as quickly as possible. You think you are over all of the hoops once you have gone through work permits and visas only to find out you are waiting a long time for a PPS number. Obviously, people cannot work in that time. They cannot open a bank account.

People who are meant to be starting work in hospitality in Tipperary have been waiting three months for a PPS number. There is someone else who is waiting to work in a retail grocery store. They have been waiting eight weeks for their PPS number. It can be incredibly frustrating, particularly for employers who are trying to get staff at a time where that is a real challenge. They have jumped through all the hoops, which were difficult, to now find that something else is really delayed.

I accept the demand has been huge. In fairness to the Minister of State and the Department, they have put more resources into speeding up the times to process PPS numbers. I suspect that when looked at as a whole, the time is quite quick. However, I would like to know the average times, and then maybe the average times for those other than Ukrainian citizens. The Department has put more resources into it, and the Minister has highlighted the priority to ensure quick turnaround times. On the ground, from what I have heard from employers, things seem to be going in the opposite direction. My concern is that we do not reach a stage where the Minister of State and his Department have solved the delays with work permits, but we are struggling to get people working because of something as simple as getting a PPS number.