Vol. 536 No. 5
123 Ms Clune asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the current situation regarding work permits for the spouses of foreign nationals who have work permits to work here; her views on whether such spouses should be automatically allowed to work here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14728/01]
The current position is that all individuals outside the European Economic Area, EEA, require work permits to work in Ireland assuming they cannot avail of the work authorisation or working visa scheme, regardless of whether or not their spouse has a work permit. The issue of a work permit to an individual does not confer any entitlement to that person's spouse.
The rationale of the work permit system, as in other countries, is to allow employers to fill positions, on a temporary basis, with a non-EEA national where the employer has been unable to fill these positions either by an Irish or other EEA national. The scheme is employer driven on the basis of labour and skills needs.
Employers are required to make all reasonable efforts to recruit from within the EEA and evidence of such efforts must be provided with the application for a work permit.
