Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 October 2021
82. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the date when the next round of critical skills permits will be announced; if he will be allocating additional permits for dairy farm workers given reports of skills shortages in this industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48044/21]
View answerThe employment permits system is designed to facilitate the entry of appropriately skilled non-EEA nationals to fill skills and/or labour shortages, in circumstances where there are no suitably qualified Irish/EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one.
The system is managed through the use of lists designating highly skilled and ineligible occupations. In order to maintain the relevance of these lists of occupations to the needs of the economy and to ensure their ongoing relevance to the State’s human capital requirements, they undergo twice-yearly evidence-based reviews. The reviews are guided by research undertaken by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN), the Skills and the Labour Market Research Unit (SLMRU), SOLAS and involves public/stakeholder consultation. Account is taken of education outputs, sectoral upskilling and training initiatives and known contextual factors such as Brexit and, in the current context, COVID-19 and their impact on the labour market. Consideration is also taken of the views of the Economic Migration Interdepartmental Group, chaired by my Department and of the relevant policy Departments. Officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine are represented on the Economic Migration Interdepartmental Group.
A current review of the occupations lists for employment permits is well underway with submissions received from a range of sectors, including from the dairy sector, under active consideration. It is expected that the review will be finalised in the coming weeks and any changes necessary to deal with verified skills or labour shortages will be made at that time.
