Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

99. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will add physiotherapists and occupational therapists to the critical skills occupations list to meet the present staffing crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2201/22]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

100. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will consider adding physiotherapy and occupational therapy to the critical skills occupation list; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2288/22]

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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 99 and 100 together.

The State's employment permit system is designed to supplement Ireland's skills and labour supply over the short to medium term by allowing enterprises to recruit nationals from outside the EEA, where such skills or expertise cannot be sourced from within the EEA at that time.

The system is, by design, vacancy led and managed through the operation of the occupation lists: the critical skills list in respect of skills that are in critical shortage in the labour market and the ineligible occupations lists for which a ready source of labour is available from within Ireland and the EEA.

Changes to the employment permit occupations lists are made where there are no suitable Irish/EEA nationals available, development opportunities are not undermined, genuine skills shortage exists rather than a recruitment or retention problem and Government education, training and economic development policies are supported. 

The occupations lists are subject to twice yearly evidence-based review and take account of research undertaken by the Skills and Labour Market Research Unit (SOLAS) and the Expert Group of Future Skills Needs (EGFSN), a public consultation process, input from the relevant policy Departments and the Economic Migration Inter-Departmental Group, chaired by the Department. Account is also taken of contextual factors such as Brexit and, in the current context, COVID 19.

Changes which were announced in June 2021 removed a number of Health Care occupations from the Ineligible Occupations List including Chartered Physiotherapist and Occupational Therapist. This provides access to the General Employment Permit for non-EEA nationals wishing to take up employment in the State as a Chartered Physiotherapist or Occupational Therapist. In accordance with Employment Permit legislation, in order to ensure that job opportunities are made available to Irish and EEA nationals, employers must satisfy a Labour Market Needs Test before a General Employment Permit can be issued to a non-EEA national. This policy fulfils our obligations under the Community Preference principles of membership of the EU. 

The next review of the Occupations Lists will open in the coming weeks by Public Consultation.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

101. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will address the delays in processing applications for general employment permits; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2289/22]

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 employment permits regime is designed to facilitate the entry of appropriately skilled non-EEA nationals to fill skills and/or labour shortages in the State, required to develop and support enterprise for the benefit of our economy.  However, this objective must be balanced by the need to ensure that there are no suitably qualified Irish/EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one.

The employment permits 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 and these lists are subject to twice-yearly evidenced based review. 

Since March 2020, my Department has implemented Covid-19 contingency arrangements moving employment permit operations seamlessly to a totally remote working environment.  Feedback received from enterprise across the board has been universally positive.  In fact, Ireland was one of the few countries that has managed to keep their employment permit system fully operational throughout the crisis. 

From the outset of the crisis, in order to assist the HSE and all other medical providers in the State to respond to, and to assist with, the public health response to the threat of Covid-19, all medical employment permits are expedited with immediate effect. 

My Department experienced a significant increase in applications for employment permits in the past year.  Applications for Employment Permits increased significantly over the course of 2021, impacting on processing times.  From the start of January to the end of December 2021, some 27,666 applications were received, representing a 69% increase over the same period in 2020 (16,293) and a 47% increase on 2019 (18,811), which itself represented an 11 year high in applications.  My Department has issued 16,275 employment permits in 2021, and processed a total of 17,968 applications which represents a significant volume of activity.  The impact of this has resulted in a significant backlog, which has increased from 1,000 in April 2021 to approximately c. 10,500 by mid January 2022, which is now stabilising.

In addition, the extension of categories of employment permits following the latest Review of the Occupational Lists has increased the availability of employment permits for these roles.    

Processing times have been impacted by this increase in demand but also because of the HSE cyber-attack.  As a result, employment permit applications associated with the July Doctors rotation (which occurs twice yearly in January and July) had to be submitted either manually or through other nonstandard methods.  This resulted in a significant additional administrative burden in dealing with these applications, requiring staff to be temporarily reassigned to assist in the process and had a direct impact on wider processing times for other permit applications. 

An Action Plan has been developed and is being implemented to tackle the backlog, with both human resource interventions and systemic changes.  The staffing actions being taken include:

- Recruitment of additional permanent and temporary staff.  This is an increase of 69% on our permanent capacity and 125% to include temporary staff to deal with the backlog.

- Temporary reassignment of staff from other areas of the Department with relevant skills.

- Increased overtime.

As the Plan is implemented and begins to take effect, we expect to see rapid improvements from end-January, with the backlog considerably reduced by the end of Q1 and substantially reduced by the end of Q2 2022. 

In addition, further systemic changes have also been introduced.  My Department has worked with the Department of Health, the Health Service Executive and the Department of Justice to streamline and extend the time period for General Employment Permits (GEP) issued to doctors.  A new two-year multi-site GEP for Medical Doctors in Public hospitals and Public health facilities was introduced in respect of the January 2022 Doctors rotation.  This will result in significant benefits for applicants, as well as major efficiencies for the Employment Permits Section, by eliminating the necessity to apply for additional employment permits when moving to a different Public hospital or Public health facility within this two year period.

The Department provides regular updates on its website in relation to processing times and engages directly with key stakeholders including the IDA, Enterprise Ireland, AmCham, IBEC, representative groups and individual companies, as required. 

The Management Board of my Department is overseeing the implementation of the Action Plan and its impact on the backlog and waiting times.