Charles Flanagan
Question:80 Mr. Flanagan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her proposals for the issue of work permits for non-EU citizens; and if she envisages a reduction in numbers. [28909/01]
Priority Questions. - Work Permits.
Ireland does not have a formal quota based migration policy with country or sectoral quotas. The admission of non-EEA personnel is largely market-led. The onus is placed on employers to show that no EEA persons were available and willing to do the job. The work permit scheme is unrestricted in terms of the categories or skills of workers for whom applications can be submitted.
The number of work permits granted under the scheme has increased substantially in recent years and the number of permits issued in 2001 to date is in excess of 32,000. The working visa/work authorisation scheme has been operating now since June 2000 and in the period up to the end of August, a total of 3,870 permits have been issued for high skilled workers in the IT, construction and nursing professions.
In light of recent setbacks in the economy and the rising level of domestic unemployment, I am concerned that applications for work permits are continuing to increase – the average number of applications per week received over the past eight weeks was in excess of 1,200. I will shortly announce modifications to the policy for issuing work permits in order to reflect the changing labour market environment.
Can I take it from her reply that the Tánaiste does not wish to debate the modifications at this stage, which I regard as regrettable? When drafting the modifications to the scheme, I ask that the House have the opportunity to discuss them. Perhaps the most important aspect of the scheme is the division between skilled and unskilled. It would not be best practice to have a situation where large numbers of unskilled workers could be displaced by our national workforce having regard to the downturn in the economy. I refer to a quotation attributed to the Tánaiste in which she described the provision of work permits to non-EU citizens as a safety valve for our State. It was most unhelpful in the circumstances. We need a balanced approach having regard to our skills shortage and the requirement in the economy for a level of unskilled workers which is currently being met by the non-EU complement. When will we see the modified regime of which the Tánaiste speaks?
If Deputy Flanagan has suggestions, I would be delighted to hear from him. I mean that genuinely – I am not being flippant. On the one hand, I want a scheme that is flexible enough to deal with real issues which arise for employers when they literally cannot find employees while on the other hand, I want a scheme which will ensure we place the onus on employers in the first instance to offer jobs to our own nationals. That is my responsibility and that of all of us in the first instance – to see that our own people have employment.
The bulk of the 32,000 permits issued so far this year have been to groups of workers, such as farm and meat factory workers and hotel and catering industry workers. A large proportion of them are in what I would call the low skilled or unskilled area. It is important that before we continue to issue work permits on a liberal basis, as we have been doing because of the shortages we were experiencing, we have some way to ensure the employers in question have gone to all possible lengths to find employees in Ireland.
I am considering a role for FÁS, which would certify that no Irish person was available for the job, or having some mechanism such as that which would be flexible. I want an opportunity to discuss it with FÁS and officials in my Department and that is why I am not in a position to announce today exactly what we may do. That is the direction in which we are going.
In relation to a safety valve, I was asked what we would do about rising levels of unemployment. I explained there are in excess of 65,000 foreign workers in this country. A large proportion of them – perhaps 30,000 or so – are from other EEA countries and are entitled to be here. Others are here on the basis that no suitable Irish person can be found for the job. As I said – I will reiterate it – our priority is to find employment for our own people; if there is an Irish person available to do the job then the employer must recruit that person.
Will the Tánaiste address, briefly, the balance she hopes to achieve between skilled and unskilled workers? I put it to her, regarding the issue of work permits to unskilled non-EU persons coming into this State, that there is a difficulty under the current regime which could well give rise to a perception that it is a form of bonded labour having regard to the bonded link between the employer and the employee and that is giving rise to a problem which must be addressed.
I share Deputy Flanagan's view. It has been suggested that after a period of, perhaps, three to six months a person should be free to find alternative employment and not have to remain with the employer who brought them into the country. There are real issues involved. In many cases the employers pay air fares, fees and often recruitment companies when recruiting such people. A great deal of these work permits are going not just to the SME sector but to the micro sector and there are real cost issues involved. We must find a balance.
The working visa arrangement is intended to deal with professionals. Perhaps we should consider extending the categories of professionals covered by that visa. The skills group have identified that we will need an additional 2,500 professionals and about 800 technicians over the next four years. Many of those positions relate to the construction industry. We are also examining the possibility of extending the working visa arrangement to groups such as accountants in the finance area.