Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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150. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will provide an update on the current visa backlog for overseas workers; when the timelines are expected to reduce; if consideration has been given to a reduction in requirements for sought after professions, for example, chefs such as the requirement to have a job offer before they arrive and the restriction of only being allowed to work for one employer; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18296/22]

Damien English (Meath West, 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 regime is designed to accommodate the arrival of non-EEA nationals to fill skills and labour gaps for the benefit of our economy, in the short to medium term. The system is, by design, vacancy led and driven by the changing needs of the labour market.

The State’s general policy is to promote the sourcing of labour and skills needs from within the workforce of Ireland, the European Union and other EEA states. Employment opportunities which arise in Ireland should, in the main, be offered to suitably skilled Irish and other EEA nationals and should only be offered to non-EEA nationals who possess those skills and where no suitable candidate emerges from within the EEA to fill the vacancy. This policy fulfils our obligations under the Community Preference principles of membership of the EU.

In order to safeguard the employment opportunities of Irish/EEA nationals, restrictions exist on the granting of employment permits. Among the safeguards is the requirement for an employer to satisfy a Labour Market Needs Test before a General Employment Permit can be issued to a non-EEA national. Further protections in place include proof of an employer/employee relationship and minimum remuneration levels. Employment permit holders have exactly the same protections under Irish employment law as any other worker in the State.

Employment permit policy is part of the response to addressing skills deficits which exist and are likely to continue into the medium term, but it is not intended over the longer term to act as a substitute for meeting the challenge of up-skilling the State’s resident workforce. In order to meet this demand, the Government is committed to building and retaining a highly skilled workforce to serve the needs of the economy and has introduced a series of initiatives focused on workforce upskilling of new workforce entrants and those made redundant by the pandemic.

My Department and I recognise the impact delays on the processing times for work permits has for businesses and their workers and has implemented an action plan to reduce processing times built up over the past year.  The processing team has trebled in size and daily output has more than tripled compared to 2021 levels.  Internal processes have been streamlined, resulting in a significant reduction in the number of permits awaiting processing.

Waiting time for Critical Skills Employment Permits (CSEPs) have been more than halved in the past seven weeks.  The Department plans to maintain processing times for all CSEP applications at approximately its current level for all of Q2, on the assumption that demand remains at current levels. 

All flexible resources have now been redeployed to other permit types with a view to expediting the reduction in the current backlog of applications in Q2. Further progress will be delivered after the completion of approximately 3,000 one-off applications we are currently processing for the meat and horticulture sector, which should take approximately six weeks to clear, in addition to normal processing workload.  The Department expects to see a consistent strong fall in waiting times from mid-May, with waiting times considerably reduced by end Q2. 

In Q3 the Department will continue to drive down waiting times across all permit types.

As of 4 April 2022, my Department are processing applications received on the following dates for the specific types of applications:

Critical Skills Employment Permit Applications

Trusted  Partner21 February 2022

Standard07 February 2022

New Applications (All other permit types excluding Critical Skills Employment Permits)

Trusted Partner29 November 2021

Standard08 November 2021

Renewal Applications (All renewable permit types included)

Trusted Partner01 December 2021

Standard05 November 2021