Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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249. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of staff by grade in her Department allocated to process applications for employment permits for those on the critical skills list; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29023/16]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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A Critical Skills Employment Permit is designed to attract highly skilled people into the labour market with the aim of encouraging them to take up permanent residence in the State. Eligible occupations under this type of permit are deemed to be critically important to growing Ireland’s economy, are highly demanded and highly skilled, and in significant shortage of supply in our labour market. The list of eligible occupations is set out in the Following the introduction of the Employment Permits Online System (EPOS) which enables submission of online applications, permit applications of all types, whether Critical Skills, General or Renewals, etc., are filtered together into two processing queues, i.e., Trusted Partner applications and Standard Employer applications, critical skills permits are processed through both queues. Applications are then allocated directly to a processor strictly upon date of receipt of the fee that applies. Consequently the allocation of resources responds to the balance of Critical Skills, General or Renewal applications being received at any given time.

The Employment Permits Unit of my Department is composed of grades with designated roles and responsibilities as set out in the table. Staff assigned to process permit applications include members who are experienced and knowledgeable with regard to the legislation and Regulations prescribed in order to exercise the range of criteria when assessing eligibility for employment permits.

The Economic Migration Policy Unit attached to the Employment Permits function consists of .5 Assistant Principal and .6 Executive Officer level.