If he or she is in the information technology sector they are committed to remaining in that sector. It is done on the basis of professional qualifications and they are being granted to engineers, planners, architects, IT professionals and nurses. We have not extended it beyond those categories for the moment.
As regards work permits, individual companies have complained to me and, after having investigated their complaints, I have found that the fault has lain with the companies in 95% of the cases. For example, if a person does not have a visa to enter Ireland I am not in a position to allow them to enter with just a work permit. They must obtain certification from the Garda Síochána and so on. Difficulties would arise where an address would be given and the Garda could not vouch for the fact that the person was living at that address. That would be in the case of a person who had been here before and had had a permit. There has been a great deal of publicity about the situation in Galway where a company told people to come to Ireland, to tell the authorities when they arrived that they were visitors and to then apply for the permits. We cannot allow people to encourage others to break the law.
I am not aware the telephone was not answered in that section of the Department, but new staff were recently assigned to it and the section is working extremely hard. I am sure most employers are satisfied with the service they receive. We must be vigilant. We must ensure Irish nationals are not being done out of a job. There have been situations where almost no effort was made to employ Irish staff and an effort was made to bring in non-national staff and pay them a great deal less than might have been paid to Irish employees. We must assess each case on the basis of its merits to ensure people do not seek to avoid their responsibilities by bringing in others when unemployed Irish people could do the jobs.