Written answers

Tuesday, 5 October 2021

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment

Work Permits

Photo of Paul KehoePaul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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82. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the date when the next round of critical skills permits will be announced; if he will be allocating additional permits for dairy farm workers given reports of skills shortages in this industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48044/21]

Photo of Damien EnglishDamien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The employment permits system is designed to facilitate the entry of appropriately skilled non-EEA nationals to fill skills and/or labour shortages, in circumstances where there are no suitably qualified Irish/EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one.

The system is managed through the use of lists designating highly skilled and ineligible occupations. In order to maintain the relevance of these lists of occupations to the needs of the economy and to ensure their ongoing relevance to the State’s human capital requirements, they undergo twice-yearly evidence-based reviews. The reviews are guided by research undertaken by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN), the Skills and the Labour Market Research Unit (SLMRU), SOLAS and involves public/stakeholder consultation. Account is taken of education outputs, sectoral upskilling and training initiatives and known contextual factors such as Brexit and, in the current context, COVID-19 and their impact on the labour market. Consideration is also taken of the views of the Economic Migration Interdepartmental Group, chaired by my Department and of the relevant policy Departments. Officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine are represented on the Economic Migration Interdepartmental Group.

A current review of the occupations lists for employment permits is well underway with submissions received from a range of sectors, including from the dairy sector, under active consideration. It is expected that the review will be finalised in the coming weeks and any changes necessary to deal with verified skills or labour shortages will be made at that time.

Photo of Neale RichmondNeale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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83. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of work permit applications in each of the years 2015 to 2020 and to date in 2021, by sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48125/21]

Photo of Damien EnglishDamien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The Employment Permits Section of my Department inform me that a total of 94,854 Employment Permits issued in the years 2015 to 2020 and to the 29th September 2021.

As requested by the Deputy, a breakdown of these permits by Economic Sector for each year in question is provided below.

Permits received between 2015 -29/09/2021 by Economic Sector

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Photo of Michael Healy-RaeMichael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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84. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will address a matter (details supplied) regarding work permits for non-EU workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48131/21]

Photo of Damien EnglishDamien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The employment permits system is designed to facilitate the entry of appropriately skilled non-EEA nationals to fill skills and/or labour shortages, in circumstances where there are no suitably qualified Irish/EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one.

The system is managed through the use of lists designating highly skilled and ineligible occupations. In order to maintain the relevance of these lists of occupations to the needs of the economy and to ensure their ongoing relevance to the State’s human capital requirements, they undergo twice-yearly evidence-based reviews. The reviews are guided by research undertaken by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN), the Skills and the Labour Market Research Unit (SLMRU), SOLAS and involves public/stakeholder consultation. Account is taken of education outputs, sectoral upskilling and training initiatives and known contextual factors such as Brexit and, in the current context, COVID-19 and their impact on the labour market. Consideration is also taken of the views of the Economic Migration Interdepartmental Group, chaired by my Department and of the relevant policy Departments. Officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine are represented on the Economic Migration Interdepartmental Group.

In May 2018, a pilot quota-based scheme was introduced to remove certain agri-food occupations from the ineligible occupations list. The scheme provided for 2,500 General Employment Permits for the meat processing industry, 500 for horticulture and 150 for the dairy sector to address the immediate needs of the sectors in sourcing labour. In addition, a quota of 300 permits was granted in respect of meat deboners. To date this pilot scheme has proved very successful for a range of employers in the sector. These three quotas created for dairy farm assistant, horticulture worker and meat processing operative have now expired.

A review of the occupation lists is currently underway with submissions, including those In respect of meat & pig processing, under consideration. It is expected the review will be finalised in the coming weeks.

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