Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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538. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if consideration is being given to extending employment permits to construction workers and drivers in the construction sector from outside the EU-EEA; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36100/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Where specific skills prove difficult to source within the State and wider EEA, an employment permit may be sought by an employer to hire a non-EEA national.  The employment permits system is managed in part through the operation of the Highly Skilled Eligible Occupations List (HSEOL) and Ineligible Categories of Employment List (ICEL) for the purposes of granting an employment permit. 

Changes to access to the Irish labour market for specific occupations via the employment permits system are made on the basis of research compiled in the annual National Skills Bulletin and the annual Vacancy Overview Report, which is undertaken by the Expert Group of Future Skills Needs, the Skills and Labour Market Research Unit (SOLAS) and coordinated by the National Skills Council.  This data, in tandem with a public consultation process which will involve the submission of evidence based cases for inclusion on, or removal from the HSEOL and ICEL, to the appropriate Government Department by sectoral stakeholders, will form the basis of the bi-annual review process. 

Construction workers and drivers are currently included on the ICEL.  In order to consider removing an occupation from the ICEL, there would need to be a clear demonstration that recruitment difficulties are solely due to shortages across the EEA and not to other factors such as salary and/or employment conditions.  Organisations in the sector would need to provide the necessary data to substantiate their claim as part of a detailed evidence-based case which would be forwarded by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government as the  lead Department for the sector, to my Department for review and consideration.

My Department recently completed a review of economic migration policies underpinning the current employment permits system and the report is due to be published shortly with a review of the lists of occupations for employment permits scheduled to commence in the Autumn.