John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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299. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if the salary figure for visa applications relative to the hospitality sector will be reduced to €25,000 per annum to enable employers to recruit a wider range of skill sets. [22471/23]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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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.

The system is managed by means of two Occupations Lists determining either highly skilled roles in critical short supply or those that are ineligible for an employment permit. The lists undergo regular, evidence-based review to incorporating current labour market intelligence, guided by relevant research and a public/stakeholder consultation. The views of the Economic Migration Interdepartmental Group and relevant policy Departments, including the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media are also taken into consideration.

My Department continues to actively respond to the concerns raised by various sectors with regard to the critical short supply of skills in a number of roles crucial to the economy. Following extensive reviews, since 1st January 2020, all grades of Chef with appropriate experience were removed from the Ineligible Occupations List and became eligible for the General Employment Permit. Approximately 3,200 employment permits have been processed for chefs since the start of 2022.

The General Employment Permit is the main permit used by the State for occupations experiencing a labour or skills shortage that cannot be filled by the resident and EEA labour market. The minimum remuneration for this permit type is €30,000. The minimum remuneration thresholds are a legislative requirement, prescribed in the Employment Permits Acts. The use of a salary threshold is a key labour market protection instrument. The goal is that economic migration serves the skills needs of the economy without disruptively depressing wage levels in the wider labour market. Setting the level for minimum annual remuneration is a balancing act and any amendment to the thresholds for employment permits may only be considered on the basis of a thorough review. The first formal review of the minimum remuneration thresholds was in 2017, and was, subsequently, subsumed into the Review of Economic Migration Policy. It was on foot of the recommendations in that report that an increase to the Critical Skills Employment Permit threshold was approved from January 2020.

At present, there are no proposals to reduce the current remuneration levels for the General Employment Permit accessed by a particular sector and the current remuneration threshold for the General Employment Permit remains at €30,000.

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, with an emphasis on the process of lifelong learning, and on maximising the potential of EEA nationals to fill our skills deficits.