Vol. 525 No. 5
162 Mr. Naughten asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the average time for the handling of an application for a work permit; if any additional staff have been made available in the work permit section of her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25522/00]
The length of time taken to deal with any application for a work permit to employ a non-European economic area national will always depend on the individual circumstances of the particular case. At present, the average time taken to deal with such applications is about five weeks. This is due to the unprecedented number of applications now being received by my Department. For example, during the month of October a total of 2,460 permits were issued compared with 550 in the same month last year. Sanction has been sought from the Department of Finance for additional staff to deal with the unprecedented and growing volume of applications.
