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

185. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps that he is taking to ensure that work permits are accessible in order to combat staff shortages in the homecare sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30420/22]

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

Ireland’s employment permits system 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 but 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 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 an employment permit where it is evidenced that there is more than sufficient availability of those skills in the domestic and EEA labour market.

In order to ensure the employment permits system is aligned with current labour market intelligence, these lists undergo regular, evidence-based review guided by relevant research, a public/stakeholder consultation, the views of the Economic Migration Interdepartmental Group and relevant policy Departments, in this case the Department of Health. Account is also taken of upskilling and training initiatives and other known contextual factors, such as the ending of the pandemic unemployment payment schemes and the Ukrainian humanitarian Crisis, and their impact on the labour market.

While submissions from the home care sector were considered, the most recently concluded review announced towards the end of last year did not recommend removal of the occupation of care worker/homecarers from the Ineligible Occupations List as the evidence suggested that the contracts of employment on offer and employment terms and conditions being offered are factors in the recruitment challenges faced by the sector, rather than a demonstrable labour market shortage.

Department officials are actively engaged with the Department of Health in relation to recruitment challenges and my Department is a member of the Cross Departmental Strategic Workforce Advisory Group chaired by the Department of Health. Areas being considered by the Group include recruitment, retention, training, pay and conditions, and the career development of front-line carers in home support and nursing homes into the future. The Group provides a forum for agreement on strategic approaches to address these workforce challenges in the sector and will develop a set of recommendations for the Minister of Health's consideration outlining the Group’s key findings and a proposed action plan to support implementation of these recommendations by September 2022.

My Department continues to review the employment permits system in light of changing labour market circumstances. Submissions will be invited from sector representative bodies and interested parties via the Public Consultation Form which will be accessible on the Department’s website throughout the consultation period when the next Review of the Occupational Lists commences.