Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 June 2004
35 Ms Burton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if her attention has been drawn to the recent report published by the Migrant Rights Centre, Ireland regarding work permits in which it suggested that temporary work permits should be the exception rather than the rule and that permits should be detached from the employer; her views on the recommendations made; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18042/04]
View answerI am aware of the report in question and of similar proposals from other interested parties.
At present the work permit system grants the permit to an employer to recruit a specific employee to fill a specific vacancy, where the employer has been unable to find a suitable employee within Ireland or the wider European Economic Area. That arrangement does have the safeguard that the non-EEA employee in question is coming to fill a specific vacancy, an important factor when most of the personnel in question are at the lower end of the skills spectrum.
In recent years, work permit personnel have being readily facilitated in changing jobs, and in such circumstances a new work permit is issued to an eligible employer. That flexibility has being possible and warranted by the relatively high number of vacancies arising in recent years.
If we moved to a situation where a work permit were given to the individual employee, we would in effect be giving on authorisation to come to Ireland in search of an employer. Such a system is not impossible, but it gives rise to several serious policy questions and raises very significant resource issues. Any informed decision to move to a new system should take those into account.
Any proposal to issue employment permits directly to employees raise questions such as: To whom would permits be issued? In respect of what skills? How many per year? Would we give quotas to other countries, if requested, and if so, to which countries? For how long might a person seek a job? What would be done if a person did not find a job within the period allowed? Would families of the work permit holder be permitted to travel immediately and, if so, who would be responsible for their support in Ireland? What impact, if any, would such a programme have on the housing market, particularly at the lower end of the rented private sector? The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has had to put in place very significant resources in recent years to give detailed consideration to applications from 10,000 to 12,000 asylum seekers per year. Given the likely level of demand for employment permits from aspiring employees, the question arises as to whether the State would be prepared to devote an equivalent amount of resources to detailed assessment of employment permit applications from a similar or even greater number of applicants and whether that would be a priority call on resources.
It is anticipated that, following EU enlargement, the greater portion of our overseas personnel needs will be met from within the EU, thus obviating the need for a work permit.
