Written answers
Thursday, 27 October 2022
Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Work Permits
Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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29. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will provide a breakdown of the number and category of employment permits that have been granted by his Department since January 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53744/22]
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 system is vacancy led and 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, and is managed through the operation of the Critical Skills and Ineligible Occupations Lists which determine roles that are either in critical short supply or are ineligible for an employment permit.
The tables attached show the number and category of employment permits that have been granted by my Department from 1st January 2022 to 20th October 2022. Also shown below is a breakdown of the number of permits issued by economic sector for your information.
| Permit Type | Total | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contract for Services Employment Permit | 53 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 22 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Critical Skills Employment Permit | 17,660 | 1,199 | 1,720 | 2,480 | 1,612 | 1,667 | 1,433 | 1,916 | 2,088 | 2,324 | 1,221 |
| Dependant/Partner/Spouse Employment Permit | 18 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Exchange Agreement Employment Permit | 20 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| General Employment Permit | 13,612 | 1,019 | 695 | 818 | 2,027 | 1,938 | 2,370 | 1,634 | 1,366 | 938 | 807 |
| Internship Employment Permit | 40 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 3 |
| Intra-Company Transfer (Training) Employment Permit | 67 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 45 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Intra-Company Transfer Employment Permit | 1,587 | 42 | 105 | 140 | 348 | 318 | 26 | 319 | 47 | 134 | 108 |
| Reactivation Employment Permit | 54 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 5 |
| Sport and Cultural Employment Permit | 132 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 14 | 8 | 21 | 29 | 17 | 14 | 11 |
| Grand Total | 33,243 | 2,278 | 2,539 | 3,458 | 4,012 | 3,996 | 3,877 | 3,956 | 3,537 | 3,423 | 2,167 |
| Grand Total | 2022 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Economic Sector | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | |
| A - Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing | 4,115 | 146 | 149 | 274 | 1,407 | 877 | 708 | 216 | 140 | 121 | 77 |
| B - Mining & Quarrying | 12 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| C - All Other Manufacturing | 516 | 15 | 36 | 50 | 53 | 47 | 45 | 111 | 55 | 67 | 37 |
| C - Manufacture of Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals | 521 | 30 | 49 | 55 | 70 | 46 | 24 | 64 | 69 | 66 | 48 |
| C - Manufacture of Computers, Electronics & Optica | 513 | 5 | 48 | 55 | 87 | 104 | 29 | 71 | 40 | 45 | 29 |
| C - Manufacture of Food, Drink & Tobacco | 325 | 8 | 17 | 43 | 105 | 31 | 34 | 30 | 18 | 26 | 13 |
| C - Manufacture of Medical Devices | 263 | 8 | 17 | 26 | 28 | 58 | 10 | 25 | 35 | 37 | 19 |
| D - Electricity & Gas & Air Conditioning Supply | 164 | 4 | 9 | 18 | 16 | 19 | 14 | 21 | 30 | 21 | 12 |
| E - Water Supply - Sewerage Waste Management & Rem | 18 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| F - Construction | 1,215 | 81 | 136 | 127 | 109 | 131 | 157 | 132 | 110 | 106 | 126 |
| G - Wholesale & Retail Trade | 256 | 9 | 22 | 33 | 34 | 30 | 19 | 26 | 33 | 25 | 25 |
| H - Transport & Storage | 394 | 13 | 21 | 45 | 75 | 59 | 16 | 24 | 46 | 47 | 48 |
| I - Accommodation & Food Services activities | 2,141 | 51 | 123 | 175 | 172 | 303 | 441 | 219 | 274 | 228 | 155 |
| J - Information & Communication Activities | 9,296 | 442 | 934 | 1,260 | 872 | 1,064 | 761 | 1,236 | 1,041 | 1,090 | 596 |
| K - Financial & insurance Activities | 2,722 | 143 | 230 | 379 | 234 | 226 | 198 | 300 | 375 | 420 | 217 |
| L - Real Estate Activities | 19 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| M - All other Professional, Scientific & Technical | 756 | 13 | 70 | 64 | 56 | 92 | 90 | 122 | 76 | 95 | 78 |
| M - Professional, Scientific&Technical Activities | 335 | 10 | 44 | 69 | 23 | 32 | 19 | 42 | 40 | 39 | 17 |
| N - Administrative & Support Service Activities | 70 | 2 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 4 | 5 |
| O - Public Administration & Defence | 36 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
| P - Education | 157 | 18 | 13 | 15 | 13 | 16 | 14 | 15 | 23 | 19 | 11 |
| Q - Health & Social Work Activities | 7,866 | 1,213 | 461 | 564 | 496 | 703 | 1,141 | 1,101 | 930 | 750 | 507 |
| R - Arts , Entertainment and Recreation | 267 | 4 | 14 | 18 | 29 | 22 | 37 | 46 | 52 | 21 | 24 |
| S - Other Service activities | 1,264 | 56 | 126 | 173 | 115 | 123 | 104 | 140 | 129 | 187 | 111 |
| T - Domestic- Activities of Households as Employer | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 33,243 | 2,278 | 2,539 | 3,458 | 4,012 | 3,996 | 3,877 | 3,956 | 3,537 | 3,423 | 2,167 |
Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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31. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the considerations that have been given towards merging or streamlining the employment permit and visa application processes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53592/22]
Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland has a clear division between economic migration and general immigration policies and thus an applicant for an employment permit undergoes a separate application process with Immigration Service Delivery of the Department of Justice for immigration permission and visas to work in the State.
Much has already been done to improve the employment permit system administratively and my department is always focused on improving the service, with initiatives such as the Trusted Partner Registration system and the introduction of the electronic permit and the Multi-Site general employment permit for Doctors.
An overhaul of the processing system is currently underway so that new IT procedures can be developed in tandem with the new legislation. The development of this new IT processing system will take advantage of all the new technologies available.
The Employment Permits Bill 2022 is designed to increase agility, enabling the employment permits system to more quickly respond to both growth and contraction in labour demand, and to align the criteria for employment permits to the changing needs of the economy by restructuring the legislation to ensure that the system’s operational details and processes are prescribed in Regulations, as opposed to primary legislation.
The policy underlying the economic migration system is one where the system should deliver the skills and labour needs in the economy, while prioritising the Irish and EEA labour pool. The proposed changes are intended to improve the system’s flexibility without changing this core goal.
In terms of the operation of the economic migration system more generally, my Department co-operates closely with the Department of Justice where responsibility for immigration matters intersect with the economic migration system, however The Minister for Justice has responsibility for visa application processes and streamlining of these.
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