Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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15. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the steps she has taken to ensure an adequate supply of chefs for the catering sector; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30220/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Education and Skills is responsible for education and training provision. This includes ETBs and several Institutes of Technology that are running courses supplying chefs.

Failte Ireland has a primary function “To support the training and education and development of persons for the purposes of employment within the Tourism Industry”. Failte Ireland falls under the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.

My Department has responsibility for the employment permits system. Changes to that system are made on the basis of research undertaken by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN) in tandem with wider consultation.

Chefs with expertise in a non-EEA cuisine at the level of executive chef, head chef, sous chef and specialist chef are eligible for employment permits and some 83 permits were issued to chefs this year. In 2015 the EGSFN carried out a study on the future skills needs of the hospitality sector. The EGFSN report provides a clear and coherent framework for the development of talent in the hospitality sector in the years ahead to help drive employment growth.

The Study assessed skills demand at all NFQ levels, with a particular focus on career progression opportunities for those at lower skilled levels to help fill anticipated job openings. The report provides a set of recommendations designed to address the skills requirements of the sector over the period to 2020.  While the emphasis is on developing skills in the resident labour market, the report recommends that the role migration can play should be kept under review. 

The lists of highly skilled and ineligible occupations are reviewed twice yearly. The current review will be completed in September. I will then be in a position to determine, based on the evidence available, if any changes are required to the categories of chefs that are eligible for employment permits.