Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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388. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans to include social work on the general employment permit. [7068/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Ireland operates a managed employment permits system maximising the benefits of economic migration and minimising the risk of disrupting Ireland’s labour market. The system is intended to act as a conduit for key skills which are required to develop enterprise in the State for the benefit of our economy, while simultaneously protecting the balance of the labour market. The system is, by design, vacancy led and driven by the changing needs of the labour market, expanding and contracting in tandem with its inherent fluctuations.

The system is managed through the operation of the critical skills and ineligible occupations lists which determine employments that are either in high demand or are ineligible for consideration for an employment permit. The occupations lists are subject to twice-yearly review which is predicated on a formalised and evidence-based process and involves consideration of the research undertaken by the Skills and Labour Market Research Unit (Solas), the Expert Group of Future Skills Needs (EGFSN), the National Skills Council, and input by relevant Government Departments in addition to the public consultation phase. Account is also taken of contextual factors such as Brexit and in the current context COVID 19. The views and guidance of the Interdepartmental Group on Economic Migration Policy, chaired by this Department, are also an important part of the decision-making process.

Currently the occupation of social worker is ineligible for an employment permit. In order to have an occupation considered for amendment on the Occupations Lists, there needs 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. A detailed evidence-based case based on this data needs to be put forward to the lead policy Government Department for their observations, in this instance the Department of Health, and then submitted to this Department for review and consideration.