Written answers

Tuesday, 1 February 2022

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment

Work Permits

Photo of Joe O'BrienJoe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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198. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the status of plans for the development of seasonal work permits. [4574/22]

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 over the short to medium term, 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, by design, vacancy led and managed through the use of the occupations lists designating highly skilled and ineligible occupations. The lists are reviewed twice a year to ensure their ongoing relevance to the State’s human capital requirements. 

The 2018 Review of Economic Migration Policy found that there is a clear role for time limited work permissions for seasonal contracts for typically 6-9 months.  Ireland is an outlier in not having this form of permission. To meet this demand, the development of a seasonal employment permit is proposed in the Employment Permit (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill. 

Work is progressing on drafting the Bill and is currently scheduled for publication in the Spring.

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