Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 77 to 80, inclusive, 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 critical skills and ineligible occupation lists.

My Department experienced a significant increase in applications for employment permits in the past year and a half, which impacted 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. 16,275 employment permits were issued in 2021, and a total of 17,968 applications processed, which represents a significant volume of activity. This increased demand was also driven by the extension of categories of employment permits following the Review of the Occupational Lists in October 2021.

My Department and I recognised the impact delays in the processing times for employment permits has had for businesses and their workers. An internal plan of action was introduced which increased resources and implemented more efficient methods of processing applications in the permits system. The processing team trebled in size and daily output has more than tripled this year compared to 2021 levels.

Since the implementation of this plan, the Employment Permits Unit has made positive progress by reducing the number of applications awaiting processing from about 10,900 in January 2022 to under 2,200 today, despite further strong growth in demand in 2022.

The tables below show the details requested by the Deputy in tabular form.

The number of work permits that have been issued for non-European Union workers to date per month in 2022

The sectors in which work permits have been issued for non-European Economic Area-workers by month to date in 2022 are set out at the link:

Work Permits Non-EEA

The current average turn-around times for a work permit for non-European Economic Area-workers from the date that the application is received until the date of approval are set out in the table.

The number of applications for work permits for non-European Union workers that are currently awaiting processing within the system as of 26^thSeptember 2022 is 2181.