Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, and invite Senator Lawless to proceed.

Billy Lawless (Independent)
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If the Cathaoirleach will permit me, I am honoured that my sisters, my uncle and aunt and my first cousins are all in the Gallery. They are descendants of my grandfather, Gerald Fitzgerald from Clonakilty, who taught in Clonakilty Agricultural College and whose three sons worked there as well. I am honoured that they are here today and thank them for joining us.

I thank the Minister of State for his attendance today for this most important issue to Irish emigrants living overseas. As the Minister is aware, on 6 March this year it was announced that the spouses and partners of critical skills employment permit holders will be able to access the Irish labour market without the need to obtain an employment permit. This is a very welcome announcement and I applaud the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, for bringing it into being. I am, however, completely bewildered that although this initiative can be introduced with relative ease, the partners of returning Irish emigrants have to wait months before securing an employment permit. Surely to God if we are extending this scheme to individuals of every nationality bar none who have the relevant employment permit, we can do the same for our own. Partners of returning Irish emigrants are waiting anything up to a year to get a work permit. They are our own people and they currently rank below partners or spouses of non-Irish workers in terms of priority. What kind of message does that send to the Irish emigrant community about how welcome they are to return home?

As the Minister of State knows, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade commissioned and published the Indecon economic report on addressing challenges faced by returning Irish emigrants in February 2018. A key challenge identified within the report was the inability of partners of returning emigrants to obtain work permits. According to the same report, in 2017, 529 spouses or partners of returning emigrants applied for work permits and the average processing time was almost six months. The report, published over a year ago now, especially recommends at a very minimum the introduction of a pre-clearance system for applications in order to speed up both information and decisions. This is the least we can expect, but I would ask the Minister of State to go further. Why not allow all spouses and partners of returning emigrants an automatic entitlement to work and get rid of the permit requirement, as the Minister of State has done for critical skills employment permit holders?

As the Minister of State is aware, we lost the Irish E3 visa allocation of 5,000 by a single vote in the US Senate before Christmas, after getting unanimous consent in the House of Representatives. The Irish E3 is a surplus visa that the Australians do not take up. We are in the process of reintroducing it in the US Senate and House very shortly and are hopeful of being successful this time around. Significantly, spouses of these E3 visa holders will automatically receive work authorisation in the United States. If this is passed, Ireland will reciprocate by allowing US citizens and their spouses work authorisation here.

Irish citizens with their spouses are now returning to Ireland after the terrible recession we had over ten years ago. They are returning with new skills and some with a non-Irish spouse. These spouses cannot get work authorisation. That is wrong. We cannot be hypocrites in this. We are talking about 572 people married to or in a partnership with Irish citizens. According to the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, in 2018 almost 9,000 people were in receipt of the critical skills employment permit. All of the spouses and partners of those people and future applicants for the permit have now effectively been given an amnesty to work in this country. We must treat our returning emigrants equally. I urge the Minister of State to at least implement the recommendations of the Indecon report. Better still, he should afford partners or spouses of returning emigrants the same rights and opportunities that have been extended to over 9,000 spouses and partners of non-Irish citizens.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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Before the Minister of State responds, as Cathaoirleach I would like formally to welcome Senator Lawless's cousins, the Fitzgerald and Lawless clan, including Senator Billy Lawless’s uncle Peadar and aunt Una and his cousins from Darrara, Clonakilty, which is very close to my home place. I live in Schull. I am from a little village called Kilcrohane but I know Darrara and that area very well. They are extremely welcome to the Chamber and I hope they have a lovely day. I hope they will sponge off the generosity of Senator Lawless for the rest of the afternoon.

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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Before the Cathaoirleach allows the Minister of State to come in, may I join with him in welcoming all of the Fitzgerald clan here today?

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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It is great to know that Senator Lawless is a Cork man at heart and by birth.

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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Most of them are now living in Killarney.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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They are all welcome.

On behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, who sends his apologies, I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I welcome the opportunity to address the position on the spouses and partners of returning Irish emigrants and their access to the labour market. Broadly speaking, spouses and civil partners and de facto partners of Irish nationals have broad access to the Irish labour market. For persons in a marriage or civil partnership, entry to the State and immediate registration with the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, INIS, and the Garda National Immigration Bureau is possible and these people are granted a stamp 4 immigration permission. Stamp 4 permission holders can work without the need for an employment permit, or indeed can set up their own business. Feedback from the NGO sector has indicated that this is quick and clear to navigate and is inexpensive.

For non-visa required persons, the non-EEA spouse or civil partner can be issued with an entry permission on arrival in the State and will generally have a short period of a few weeks to wait for the stamp 4 permission. It is worth noting Ireland's policy to allow de facto partners to apply for residency permission, recognising the changing nature of relationships and family make-up. The decision of INIS to facilitate such applications is progressive and sets it apart from many other jurisdictions. Currently, a non-EEA de facto partner of an Irish emigrant must make a written application to INIS for assessment, which is subject to a processing time of approximately six months, as the Senator has said. When a positive decision is made, the non-EEA person is entitled to a stamp 4 immigration permission that will allow him or her to work in Ireland without need for an employment permit.

My officials are aware of the Indecon report on returning emigrants,its recommendations, and the challenges faced by this group of people as they return to Ireland, which have been articulated well by Senator Lawless. The Department and officials in the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service have ongoing engagement with stakeholders and are working on proposals that will streamline the process for spouses, civil partners and de facto partners of returning Irish emigrants. The aim of these proposals will be to deliver significant customer improvement gains in terms of the time taken to assess applications and in providing greater clarity to applicants at an early stage before travel commitments are made. It is hoped to deliver this under the INIS service improvement plan 2018-20, and this will assist in streamlining the various schemes that permit non-EEA nationals enter and reside in the State.

I have taken note of the other points the Senator has made and will bring them to the attention of the Minister and the officials in the Department.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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A brief supplementary question by Senator Lawless.

Billy Lawless (Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton. I am delighted that he is striving to streamline the process. We have to stop putting obstacles in the path of our returning emigrants. They did the State an incredible service when they left ten years ago. Some 250,000 people left and thank God most of them are coming back, which is great to see. We need them back but they are returning with new skills, and their partners also bring new skills, and obstacles or barriers should not be put in front of them.

I ask the Minister of State to ensure this will be done as quickly as possible.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this important matter and for his ongoing work in respect of the diaspora. The Minister and his officials in the Department are very aware of the challenges which many returning Irish emigrants face and are actively addressing the removal of the barriers the Senator has described, where possible. It is expect that the revised arrangement will make a significant contribution to the delivery of the Government's diaspora policy.