Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 September 2022
32. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps that he is taking to fast-track the processing of critical skills employment permits relating to healthcare professionals for the nursing home sector. [44962/22]
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.
On 14 June 2021, following a review of the employment permit occupation lists, changes to the employment permit system were announced, to address skills and labour shortages in the healthcare and nursing home sector. Following this review the occupation of Nursing Auxiliary or Assistant (Health Care Assistant) in hospital/nursing home settings became eligible for an employment permit from that date.
From the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic all employment permit applications for medical personnel have been expedited in order to assist the State to respond to the threat of Covid-19.
My Department experienced a significant increase in applications for employment permits in the past year and a half, which impacted 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. 16,275 employment permits were issued in 2021, and a total of 17,968 applications processed, which represents a significant volume of activity. This increased demand was also driven by the extension of categories of employment permits following the Review of the Occupational Lists in October 2021.
My Department and I recognised the impact delays in the processing times for employment permits has had for businesses and their workers. Therefore, an internal plan of action was undertaken which has increased resources and implemented more efficient methods of processing applications in the permits system. The processing team has trebled in size and daily output has more than trebled compared to 2021 levels.
Since the implementation of this plan, the Employment Permits Unit has made positive progress by reducing the number of applications awaiting processing from c. 11,000 in January 2022 to approximately 2,500 today, despite further strong growth in demand during 2022.
Processing times for Critical Skills applications from Trusted Partners have fallen from 21 weeks to 3 weeks with Standard applications reduced to 4 weeks. General Employment Permit applications for Trusted Partners fell from 22 weeks to 3 weeks with Standard applications reduced from 22 weeks to 4 weeks.
