Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

101. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he has considered introducing a points-based system for the entry into the country and naturalisation of skilled workers and their families similar to that in place in Australia and now being considered by the UK; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36838/21]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Ireland operates a managed employment permits system maximising the benefits of economic migration and minimising the risk of disrupting Ireland’s labour market. The regime acts 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. By design, it is vacancy led and driven by the changing needs of the labour market, expanding and contracting in tandem with its inherent fluctuations.

Employment permits are issued on the basis of a job offer from an employer in the State, having identified an individual that holds the appropriate qualification and skills. Further to that, my Department examines a number of criteria when assessing an application for an employment permit including that there is an employer/employee relationship and that a contract of employment exists.

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 a twice-yearly evidenced based review process involving consideration of 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. The views and guidance of the Interdepartmental Group on Economic Migration Policy, chaired by this Department are an important part of the decision-making process. Contextual factors such as COVID 19 and Brexit are also taken into account.

A fundamental review of the economic migration policy that underpins the Irish employment permit system, undertaken in 2018 concluded that, while the current system provides a robust framework to supplement the skills and labour needs in the State, the current legislation imposes considerable inflexibility in its operation. The review involved an international bench-marking exercise, a public consultation process and was overseen by the Economic Migration Interdepartmental Group. In order to increase the agility and responsiveness of the system, to modernise it and to ensure that it is capable of adapting to rapid changes in the needs of the labour market, the Review recommended that new legislation be initiated. The Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill is being drafted to address these issues.

The current priority is to progress this new legislation and the Department is not developing any further policy in this area at this time. Any consideration of a system suggested by the Deputy would require an in depth analysis and review to assess the implications of such a system across a range of areas including the implications for enterprise, the impact on the domestic labour market, our obligations to the European Union, and broader immigration policies.