The two areas I will cover are the working permit and, second, bureaucracy and the possible overlapping between Departments.
The application and renewal process for work permits has been recognised as opaque and protracted. While the Employment Permits Bill attempts to make the process more transparent, efficient and straightforward, the level of administration involved will be quite cumbersome. Both employers and employees must deal with a high level of bureaucracy and accept lengthy decision-making periods as part of the work permits process. The Chambers of Commerce of Ireland is suggesting that we streamline the system to enable the migrant to apply directly for his or her renewed permit, having successfully complied with the conditions of the initial permit. This would give greater control to the non-Irish resident over his or her life and career in Ireland, while relieving the employer of the burden of red tape. It might also assist, to some extent, in exposing and lifting the grip of the exploitive employers on the workers.
On the question of overlapping of Departments, the CCI is concerned that resolution of these key issues may well be lost in a perception in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform respectively that these issues might belong to the other Department and therefore fall between them. Accordingly, a cross-departmental structure is needed to address responsibilities for this crucial means of embedding skilled migrants into Irish society.
The Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, INIS, might well fulfil this role. However, it is not clear that this will be the case. It is also not clear how this role of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment will link in with INIS on these matters. I expect that the acronym INIS, which is how we refer to some of the islands off the coast, would refer more to the overall island status rather than a possible reluctance we may have toward inclusion and change.