Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, and thank her for taking this Commencement matter. I understand that the Tánaiste is abroad. I thank him, his staff and the Minister of State, Deputy English. While I wish to discuss the frustration among employers and people who are coming to the country with the work permit system, it is first important to acknowledge that the Tánaiste and the Minister of State, Deputy English, are committed to solving this problem. They have a plan in place as well as people who are working to accelerate the process.

There is significant frustration. In Tipperary, I am inundated with calls from people who are trying to get work permits for construction workers, agricultural workers, engineers and hotel chefs. The process from when they start looking for someone to the very end is frustrating. Often, it is not a good end and they do not get anyone.

At this time of year, it is important that the agricultural sector get staff. For example, farms need to be able to get extra support during calving season. If people have to wait 12 weeks, as is currently the case, or even longer to get work permits, the calving season will be over. If someone applies in December, the season will be well and truly over by the time a worker arrives. Even if the process goes well and a work permit is obtained, a visa must then be acquired, which takes a further eight weeks. The whole process takes almost six months.

There is a large backlog and considerable demand worldwide for workers. That is understandable and we are not the only country with this problem, but there are other European countries that are fast-tracking the process and operating much faster than us. Germany is delivering work permits and visas within six to eight weeks. Ireland's reputation abroad is decreasing. We get many people coming over from India on work permits. If people from India have a choice between Germany or Ireland, they will choose to go to Germany because they know that the process there is quicker and they will be able to work, get paid and provide for their families. Our delay has a knock-on effect in terms of the people we are trying to bring to Ireland. People who are in the application process are pulling their names out and going to other countries, such as Germany, because it is taking so long here. This means that the employer who has, on average, paid more than €1,000 is left with the bill but no one to show for it.

People in Tipperary are telling me of their frustrations with the system on a weekly basis. I understand that the Tánaiste and the Minister of State, Deputy English, are committed to solving it but demand is significant and the level of frustration is high. Even though we have increased the workforce that is assessing applications, there needs to be urgency in getting applications processed as quickly as possible, especially for the agricultural sector. Special cases can be made where people need workers extremely quickly. A special case needs to be made for agriculture, particularly at this time of year.

I will be interested in the Minister of State's response.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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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.

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. Her final comments are significant. A tripling of the staff numbers will obviously have an impact. It will make a big difference in March. That is to be welcomed.

One of the frustrations very often expressed to us by employers is the reason they are refused. For example, in one case the owner of a steel company in Tipperary put forward three candidates for work permits, one of whom was approved and the other two were refused. The reason for the refusal was they had not provided police clearance from another country there were in previously. It is impossible for them to get police clearance without being in that country and to go there they would need a visa. In other words, they are seeking a work permit but in order to get it they need to get a visa to go to another country to get police clearance and it is not possible for them to do that.

I am happy that Senator Lombard is here because he speaks quite regularly on this issue. There is another issue where employers place advertisements in the newspapers, which Senator Lombard has spoken about previously. In this case, three advertisements were placed in a newspaper in respect of which one person got a work permit, but the other two did not. The reason for the refusal was the advertisements were not as they should have been. This may be related to demand and the numbers of applications being made but there is a frustration from an employer's point of view. There are flaws in the system.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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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.