Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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322. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the details of jobs that are categorised as highly skilled for the purposes of employment permits. [13549/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department operates a managed employment permits system which maximises the benefits of economic migration while minimising the risk of disrupting our labour market.

The Employment Permits Act 2006, as amended, sets out a requirement that regard is taken of shortages or surpluses of skills, qualifications and experience required to achieve economic and social development and competitiveness, and for the proper functioning of economic sectors.

The Act of 2006, as amended, provides for the identification of highly skilled occupations for which there is a skills demand and an ineligible occupations list for which there is an evidence that there is sufficient capacity within the Irish/EEA labour market to fill job vacancies. Every other job in the labour market where an employer cannot find a worker, may be eligible for an employment permit subject to certain criteria.

Reviews of the Highly Skilled Eligible Occupations List (HSEOL) and the Ineligible Categories of Employment List (ICEL) are undertaken twice annually to ensure that they reflect the exigencies of a changing labour environment. Occupations designated highly skilled and on the HSEOL are eligible for Critical Skills Employment Permits.

An occupation may be considered for inclusion on the HSEOL provided that:

- There are no suitable Irish/EEA nationals available to undertake the work;

- Development opportunities for Irish/EEA nationals are not undermined;

- Genuine skills shortage exists and that it is not a recruitment or retention problem;

- The Government education, training, employment and economic development policies are supported;

- The skill shortage exists across the occupation, despite attempts by industry to train and attract Irish/EEA nationals to available jobs.

The rationale underpinning the inclusion on or omission from the lists of any particular occupation is driven by skills demands in the economy, and is based, in the first instance, on research undertaken by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs for the National Skills Council. This evidence is subsequently augmented by a public consultation process.

The current HSEOL can be viewed on my Department’s website, at: .

The focus of the employment permit regime in recent years has been to ensure that the skills requirement of enterprise in the State can be met through economic migration where necessary. However, as we approach full employment, labour as well as skills needs are beginning to manifest. It is imperative that the employment permits system remains correctly oriented to meet the State’s emerging labour market needs, be they labour or skills shortages. Consequently, my Department is undertaking a review of our economic migration policy. I have established an Inter Departmental Group to steer the review and have requested that it report to me by the end of June 2018.