Thank you, Chairman. As Mr. Walsh indicated, we have circulated the full statement which members will be able to read it at their leisure. I will pick the main points from the part of the statement that relates to economic immigration policy and the work permits area.
Economic immigration is a new phenomenon in terms of the scale we have experienced in recent years. Traditionally, Ireland has had significant involuntary or economic emigration. Thankfully, through economic development and success, the position has been turned around and we are experiencing relatively high levels of economic immigration.
Our Department is responsible for administering the Government's economic immigration policy. There are connections and overlaps at times with the broader issue of immigration policy, which is administered by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, but our focus in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is primarily driven by economic immigration in the context of meeting labour market needs. It is important to understand that we share responsibilities with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. As well as administering immigration policy, we also have responsibility for enforcing employment rights and health and safety legislation, which Mr. Walsh will discuss.
As I stated, the scale of the economic immigration we are experiencing is a new phenomenon. As recently as 1999, we issued only 6,000 permits. By 2003, the figure had increased to more than 47,000, an increase of 700%. In the four year period between 1999 and 2003, more than 94,000 applications for work permits were approved, of which 55% were renewals. The paper provides an annualised breakdown of the actual permits issued, the top five countries of origin and the top five sectors receiving the workers. I will not read out the details but we can deal with them if necessary if members have questions afterwards.
In addition to the work permit, we use other instruments to assist in meeting our skills and labour shortages. Under the working visa work authorisation scheme, we authorised 9,000 persons to work in Ireland between mid-2000 and the end of 2003. Under arrangements for intra-company transfers we have facilitated more than 700 people to come here to work since October 2002. We have facilitated a further 115 persons who were granted concessions to come here under a training scheme we operate.
Given the pace of economic growth, economic immigration policy has been very responsive and flexible in terms of response to labour market needs. It has been constantly evolving and changing at a rapid pace and we have reflected labour market trends. During 2003, when the labour market loosened somewhat, we introduced new arrangements, whereby employers were first required to register vacancies with FÁS to try to fill them in the first instance either locally in Ireland or from the broader European economic area. This reflected a slight loosening in the labour market and our obligations as members of the European Union to address what is known as Community preference.
A further response we made to the developing scenario was to put new arrangements in place to allow the spouses of certain skilled non-EEA nationals to obtain a work permit more easily. We also developed a new intra-company transfer scheme. In addition, we have been having discussions at social partnership level with a group of the parties involved in the pay talks and drew up a number of areas of agreement with them during the year, which inform economic immigration policy as we proceed. We can make the paper in question available separately to the committee.
One of the most significant developments in this very short period was the Government's decision to allow full freedom of access to the labour market by nationals of the new EU member states. This was very significant as it completely opened the market. We have no bureaucracy or paperwork and the citizens of the countries in question are now free to come here and shop around the labour market to find work.
We also introduced, with the assistance of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, a new Employment Permits Act, which introduced new arrangements for penalties against employers for illegally employing workers. It also provided for penalties against employees. This was aimed at trying to protect workers from exploitation.
The arrangement for accession and opening the market also includes a safeguard clause built into the relevant legislation. This reflects the possibility, referred to earlier, of an economic shock or significant downturn. In such circumstances, certain safeguards are available on which we can call and fall back for a period of seven years up to 2011, after which that option will not be available to EU member states and full freedom of movement will apply across the European Union.
For citizens of third countries outside the enlarged European Union, in respect of whom renewal of work permit applications is now an issue, their work permits are being automatically renewed by the Department subject to all the normal requirements being met. Because we have opened the labour market to all member states, we are not turning our backs on the migrant workers who came here from third countries. Subject to them meeting the normal requirements, their work permits are being renewed.
I will highlight some of the safeguards we have been building into the work permits process. These complement some of the matters Mr. Walsh will discuss in protecting workers who come here under the work permits regime. When the application for a work permit is received, a statement of the main functions of the job is required. We also ask the employer for information on salary, wages, deductions other than statutory deductions and other benefits, as well as the hours to be worked per week. We introduced a new arrangement a couple of years ago whereby both the employer and the proposed employee must sign on the application form that the conditions and terms are as stated and are understood by both parties. We do not grant work permits unless there is compliance with the minimum wage legislation. When we consider the renewal of a work permit application, we require confirmation that the stated wages have been paid and we use information from P60s and other sources to validate this requirement.
In circumstances where relationships break down between employees and employers, we have been very flexible on a case by case basis in considering applications from other employers to employ work permit holders who for one reason or another may have found their relationship with their original employer untenable.
As regards the future, we are seeking to continue to tighten the protections we build in at the initial stage of the work permit process to protect the worker and help the employer ensure he or she is getting the right kind of person. We will pay closer attention to skills levels, wages on offer and similar matters.
We have worked very closely in recent times with the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Social and Family Affairs and we are building an information technology based system in which social welfare, the Revenue and our system can communicate quickly and conveniently to try to validate that the various protections workers would expect are being provided and the employment conditions promised to them when they were asked to come here are being delivered. We are making very good progress in that regard.
When one considers that we have moved from 6,000 work permits per annum to more than 40,000 per annum, we have experienced a dramatic increase. It is important, however, to put it into context. We have 1.8 million people at work in the economy. The actual numbers of people who are facilitated from what are now third countries under the work permit and other systems account for a relatively small proportion of the workforce. That is not to say they are not an important part of the workforce or that we should not be paying attention to their needs, but to put the figure into perspective. While these workers are providing a very valuable resource in relative terms, they continue to make up a small proportion of the workforce.