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Covid-19 Pandemic

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 July 2020

Tuesday, 28 July 2020

Questions (88)

Richard Boyd Barrett

Question:

88. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation if he is considering changes to employment permits in view of Covid-19; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18949/20]

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Written answers

Ireland operates a managed employment permits system maximising the benefits of economic migration and minimising the risk of disrupting Ireland’s labour market. The employment permits system is designed to facilitate the entry of appropriately skilled non-EEA nationals to fill skills and/or labour shortages, however, this objective must be balanced by the need to ensure that there are no suitably qualified Irish/EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one.

The system is, by design, vacancy led and managed through the operation of the critical skills and ineligible occupations lists which determine employments that are either in high demand or are ineligible for consideration for an employment permit.  As demand grows or recedes, the orientation of economic migration is adjusted accordingly through changes to these lists which are subject to twice yearly evidenced based reviews. 

These reviews are guided by research undertaken by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN) and the Skills and Labour Market Research Unit (SLMRU) in SOLAS, a public consultation process, input from the relevant Government Departments and the Economic Migration Inter-Departmental Group, chaired by the Department. Account is also taken of contextual factors such as Brexit and , in the current context, COVID 19.  

Clearly the COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to severely impact our economy, will cause us to look closely at the evolving challenges that present in the labour market for some time to come.  Changes to the employment permit regime will be based on the evidence, submissions received, consultation with key stakeholders and the input of the Economic Migration Interdepartmental Group. 

The first occupation list review of 2020 is almost finalised, with the second due to commence before the end of August with the announcement of the public consultation phase.  

The Department has implemented a COVID-19 contingency plan to ensure that the Employment Permit system continues to operate.  With effect from Monday 30th March, the Department has implemented remote working arrangements for staff and has adjusted operations to, inter alia, provide for the acceptance of electronic/scanned documents. My Department has also agreed with Immigration Service Delivery, Department of Justice and Equality, as a temporary measure, soft copy arrangements for issuing employment permits.

Since this crisis began, the  Department has been prioritising the processing of employment permit applications for medical personnel on a daily basis. and since mid-March, this has resulted in 2,799 employment permits issuing to medical personnel. 

Full details on the Employment Permits contingency arrangements are available at the following link - https://dbei.gov.ie/en/Publications/Publication-files/COVID-19-Employment-Permits-System-Contingency-Arrangements.pdf

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