Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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449. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of work permits issued by his Department in 2022 and 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1807/24]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The Employment Permits Section of the Department has provided the requested information in the table below which set out the number of employment permits issued in 2022 and 2023.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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450. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment in relation to work permits for the home care sector, the number of work permit applications received since the scheme opened in January 2023; the number of work permits issued; the number of applications returned at initial applications pre-check stage; the number of other applications rejected and the number of applications currently in processing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1833/24]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Changes to the employment permits system for workers from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to address skills shortages in Ireland’s care workers and home carer sector were announced by my Department on 16 December 2022. A quota of 1000 permits was made available for this sector.

Since the scheme opened in January 2023 up to and including 12^thJanuary 2024, 476 employment permits have been issued in respect of home carers and the total number of permits refused in respect of home carers up to the same date is 22.

Applications are only returned at pre-check stage if incomplete documentation is submitted. Where this occurs, the application is returned together with the fee, and the applicant is advised to submit a new, complete application. It is not possible to give precise figures for the number of applications returned at pre-check stages. This is because an application is only assigned a SOC (Standard Occupational Classification) code identifier at the processing stage. However, an estimate based on a keyword search of applications returned at pre-check stage up to 12th January 2024 is 93.

There are currently no applications awaiting processing and none have been rejected. Applications are only rejected if the quota assigned to the occupation concerned has been reached.