Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 82: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation when a decision will issue on an appeal for a work permit in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Meath; the reason for the delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27078/10]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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My Department processes applications in respect of the different types of employment permits that exist (Green Cards Permits, Work Permits, Spousal/Dependant Permits and Intra-company Transfer Permits). All applications are processed in line with the Employment Permits Act 2006.

Due to the tightening of Employment Permit rules in June 2009, the number of Appeals in relation to work permits has increased substantially from seventy-three in August 2009 to a current level of one hundred and six. The Appeals Officer is currently dealing with appeals received in the second week of March 2010. A decision is expected to be made on the appeal referred to by the Deputy within about 4 weeks. I wish to advise the Deputy that there is currently only one Appeals Officer in the Employment Permits Section of my Department, whereas formerly, three Officers were available to process Appeals.

Due to the prioritisation of the business needs of my Department, it was necessary to redeploy a significant number of staff in the Employment Permits Section to the Redundancy Payments area in early 2009 where there is a strong need for additional resources to process payments to those who have lost their jobs. This has resulted in currently higher processing times for some of the permit types and appeals. In the priority high skills area of Green Cards and Intra Company Transfers, applications are still being processed within 15 working days. In relation to Work Permits, Spousal applications and appeals, steps are being taken, including allocation of scarce overtime resources, to reduce the current backlog to more acceptable processing times.