Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 April 2022
2. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the reason that processing times for new permit application for trusted partners has slowed considerably (details supplied); the measures that are being put in place to rectify this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18468/22]
View answerMy Department experienced a significant increase in applications for employment permits in the past year, impacting on processing times. From the start of January to the end of December 2021, some 27,666 applications were received, representing a 69% increase over the same period in 2020 (16,293) and a 47% increase on 2019 (18,811), which itself represented an 11 year high in applications.
My Department issued 16,275 employment permits in 2021, and processed a total of 17,968 applications which represents a significant volume of activity. In addition, the extension of categories of employment permits following the latest Review of the Occupational Lists has increased the availability of employment permits.
My Department and I are very conscious of the current timeframes for processing employment permit applications and the staff of the Employment Permits section are committed to reducing these.
A plan of action has been developed by officials in Employment Permits that is focusing on efficiencies in the processing applications. This plan is currently being implemented to tackle the current backlog, with both human resource interventions and systemic changes identified.
One of the actions in this plan to alleviate the significant backlog was to focus on processing Trusted Partner applications for Critical Skills Employment Permits (CSEPs). Waiting time for all CSEPs have been more than halved in the past seven weeks. The Department plans to maintain processing times for all CSEP applications at approximately 6 weeks for all of Q2, on the assumption that demand remains at current levels.
All flexible resources have now been redeployed to other permit types to ensure that the Department will continue to make progress in reducing these processing times in Q2. However, more rapid progress will be delivered after the completion of the c. 3,000 one-off applications we are currently processing for the meat and horticulture sector, which should take approximately six weeks to clear, in addition to normal processing workload. The Department expects to see a consistent strong fall in waiting times from mid-May, with waiting times considerably reduced by end Q2.
Since the implementation of the Action Plan, the Employment Permits section has made positive progress to reduce the current backlog reducing the number of applications awaiting processing from 11,181 in January 2021 to 8,773 at the end of March this year. Officials expect to see a further significant improvements in this backlog by the end of Q2 of 2022.
As of 4 April 2022, my Department are processing applications received on the following dates for the specific types of applications:
Critical Skills Employment Permit Applications
Trusted Partner 21 February 2022
Standard 07 February 2022
New Applications (All other permit types excluding Critical Skills Employment Permits)
Trusted Partner 29 November 2021
Standard 08 November 2021
Renewal Applications (All renewable permit types included)
Trusted Partner 01 December 2021
Standard 05 November 2021
