Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 December 2018
83. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation her views on the length of time to process work permits; the actions being taken to reduce the timeframe; and her views on whether the qualifying criteria are too restrictive. [50529/18]
View answerThe Employment Permits section of my Department is experiencing high levels of demand for employment permits this year and this has contributed to increased processing times for applications.
At end October 2018, 13,953 applications had been received, a 28% increase on the same time last year. The Department regrets these unacceptable delays, and those involved are working hard to bring processing times back to within our customer service target times.
Through a combination of additional resources, fast-tracked training for new processors and various operational and ICT improvements, processing times are now reducing. Trusted Partner processing times have reduced to 5 weeks (from a peak of 7 weeks) and Standard application processing times have reduced to 11 weeks (from a peak of 16 weeks). This is still well below the previous average timeframe of 2 weeks for Trusted Partner applications and 4 weeks for general applications, but compares with international norms.
Further reductions in processing times are anticipated in the coming weeks as the changes being implemented by my officials continue to show results. I am determined to bring employment permit processing times back to within our customer service targets as soon as possible and I regret any inconvenience caused to businesses and potential employees in the meantime.
The employment permits system is managed through the operation of the Highly Skilled Eligible Occupations List (HSEOL) and the Ineligible Categories of Employment List (ICEL). These occupations lists are reviewed twice yearly to keep pace with rapid labour market changes and to be proactively identifying and addressing shortages as they arise. My Department has commenced the Quarter 4 2018 review of the lists of occupations for employment permits with a public call for submissions from stakeholders and interest groups requesting changes to the lists. The closing date for receipt of submissions was Friday 2nd November 2018. Submissions have been received in respect of a range of occupations and those submissions are now being examined.
In light of the changing economy and as we continue towards near full employment, it is imperative that the employment permits system is correctly oriented to meet the State’s labour market needs. To that end, I recently published a report reviewing the economic migration policies underpinning the current employment permits system to ensure our policies are fully supportive of Ireland’s labour market needs, be they skills or labour shortages in certain sectors. The report confirms that our employment permits system is largely robust with some adjustment required to ensure continued responsiveness so that our employment permits system will play its part in supporting Ireland's labour market needs. An Action Plan has been drawn up to implement the Report’s recommendations with a specified timeframes. Some actions can be achieved in the short term, others will require further work and some will need legislative change
