Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 10 March 2021
133. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the status of a matter (details supplied) in relation to critical skills employment permits for immigrant non-consultant hospital doctors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13645/21]
View answer140. Deputy Neale Richmond asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he has considered allowing non-consultant hospital doctors to access the critical skills employment permit which they cannot access given that they relocate regularly due to the nature of their employment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13150/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 133 and 140 together.
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 employment permits system is managed through the operation of the critical skills and the ineligible occupations lists which determine employments that are either in high demand or are ineligible for consideration for an employment permit.
Doctors, including non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs), are on the critical skills list and are eligible for the Critical Skills Employment Permit. The Critical Skills Employment Permit is Ireland's premium employment permit and is targeted at highly skilled people in eligible occupations deemed to be critically important to growing Ireland’s economy, are highly demanded and highly skilled, and in significant shortage of supply in our labour market. This permit provides for immediate family reunification, broad access to the labour market for dependents, spouses and partners as well as fast tracking to long term residency after two years. The criteria attached to this permit type includes the requirement for the non EEA national to have secured a job offer of two years.
The employment permits legislation applies a range of criteria when considering an application for an employment permit including the remuneration offered and the period of employment as set out in the contract of employment provided with the application. The duration of the employment offered to any non EEA national, for any employment, is a contractual arrangement between the employer and the employee and my Department has no role in this regard.
My Department has worked with the HSE to put in place a process that allows for up to two year, multi-site applications for Doctors, including NCHDs, for employment permits but any agreement on duration of individual employment contracts is a matter for the HSE and the doctor concerned.
The new Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill proposes to include provisions to streamline employment permit processes and improve agility by moving some of the operational detail from primary legislation to regulation including duration of an employment permit which would allow adjustment to be made more easily in response to changes in industry practices.
