Since 2004, Irish labour market policy has been to ensure that general labour and skills needs are met from within the workforce of the European Union. Policy in relation to applications for employment permits continues to focus on facilitating the recruitment from outside the European Economic Area of highly skilled personnel, where the requisite skills cannot be met by normal recruitment or by training.
Ireland’s employment permit system is designed to react to changing labour market conditions and the criteria and eligibility for employment permits are reviewed accordingly and take into account initiatives underway in the education sector. Employment permit renewals are normally granted subject to the terms and conditions of the original employment permit being met, including salary level and the condition that the employee continues to work for the same employer.
As I indicated in my answer of 21 January, there is a cohort of permit holders already working and integrated in the State that is eligible to apply for renewal of the permit when it falls due. It is not possible to predict how many of these will seek to renew their permits but I am confident that the numbers, per my answer on 21 January, will remain small. The Government’s aim in addressing the skills gap in the meat sector through the training programme being developed by my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills under the auspices of Skillnets, is to ensure that there is an adequate supply of skilled Irish and EEA nationals available to employers in the Irish meat sector, so as to obviate the need for new permits to be issued in this sector in future.