Direct Provision System

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 November 2021

Tuesday, 9 November 2021

Questions (527, 528)

Michael Ring

Question:

527. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Justice the reason persons residing in direct provision who are awaiting the outcome of applications to remain in the State cannot work if they have the appropriate qualifications and in particular in circumstances in which there is a shortage of workers for the area they are qualified in. [54192/21]

Michael Ring

Question:

528. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Justice the number of persons that have been approved permission to access the labour market in Ireland from 2017 to date by county in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54195/21]

Written answers

Minister for Justice

I propose to take Questions Nos. 527 and 528 together.

As the Deputy will be aware, international protection applicants are not required to apply for an employment permit from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to legally obtain employment in the State. Access to the labour market is provided under the European Communities (Reception Conditions) Regulations 2018 to 2021. These Regulations transpose the EU (recast) Reception Conditions Directive and came into operation from 30 June 2018.

The Regulations provide access to both employment and self-employment for any applicant who has not received a first instance decision within 6 months of making their international protection application and provided that they have cooperated with the international protection process. Applicants who are eligible for a labour market access permission can access all sectors of employment and occupations with the exception of those that require a citizenship or long-term residence requirement, such as the Civil and Public Sector, An Garda Síochána and the Irish Defence Forces.

Applications are made to the Labour Market Access Unit of my Department. If the application is successful, a labour market access permission is granted, which is valid for 12 months from the date of issue and may be renewed until a final decision is made on the person's international protection application.

Up to and including 31 October 2021, a total of 9,546 applications have been received for a labour market access permission. Of these applications, approximately three quarters (7,248) have been granted and 2,132 have been refused, with a further 117 applications pending. The pending figure includes applications which have not yet reached the 6 months criterion, and those where the return of requested supporting documents is awaited and may therefore ultimately become granted applications.

Of the applications granted a permission, a total of 4,422 have returned their LMA5 form to my Department indicating that they have found employment.

The statistics requested by the Deputy are provided in the table attached to this response. As the labour market access began from 30 June 2018, there is no data available for permissions granted in 2017.

-	2018		2018 Total	2019		2019 Total	2020		2020 Total	2021		2021 Total
Row Labels	Granted	Refused		Granted	Refused		Granted	Refused		Granted	Refused
Carlow	1	1	2	4		4	3		3		1	1
Cavan	2	2	4	17	8	25	28	9	37	15		15
Clare	123	32	155	97	35	132	90	20	110	27	3	30
Cork	267	80	347	191	68	259	208	44	252	103	22	125
Donegal	13	6	19	9	3	12	14	3	17	20	4	24
Dublin	249	131	380	366	149	515	529	91	620	350	47	397
Galway	128	59	187	82	31	113	107	21	128	48	8	56
Kerry	149	55	204	143	67	210	111	28	139	58	8	66
Kildare	30	14	44	97	33	130	41	10	51	40	3	43
Kilkenny	3		3	2	1	3	6		6	4		4
Laois	78	30	108	57	29	86	93	14	107	38	4	42
Leitrim				8	3	11	50	2	52	11	1	12
Limerick	74	45	119	60	45	105	97	16	113	74	7	81
Longford	42	22	64	26	21	47	31	4	35	31	3	34
Louth	11	8	19	48	16	64	70	7	77	43	2	45
Mayo	47	15	62	25	10	35	28	5	33	15	6	21
Meath	80	23	103	90	41	131	118	16	134	68	7	75
Monaghan	46	23	69	80	37	117	175	19	194	111	20	131
Not Recorded	134	97	231	59	37	96	6	7	13	4	3	7
Offaly	2	1	3	4	2	6	101	9	110	10	2	12
Roscommon	3	2	5	11	2	13	8	1	9	6	1	7
Sligo	95	29	124	57	20	77	36	8	44	21	3	24
Tipperary	55	4	59	37	8	45	55	11	66	22	1	23
Waterford	134	51	185	71	40	111	69	15	84	47	12	59
Westmeath	77	32	109	91	37	128	67	30	97	40	6	46
Wexford	2	1	3	10	8	18	85	12	97	14		14
Wicklow	3		3	58	20	78	104	16	120	55	6	61
Grand Total	1848	763	2611	1800	771	2571	2330	418	2748	1275	180	1455

Question No. 528 answered with Question No. 527.