Committee on Public Petitions díospóireacht

Decisions on Public Petitions Received

Chairman

We have three petitions for consideration today. The first, No. 4/22, relates to revising employment conditions for stamp 3 residence permit holders and is in the name of Ms Tracey Milledge. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment responded to the petition in February. This response was forwarded to the petitioner, who in turn replied. Her reply was forwarded to the Department, which replied on 19 May advising that partners and spouses of critical skills employment permit holders have the right to work without a permit and the employment permit is subject to regular reviews. She also advised that the Department of Justice has met with the stamp 3 partners and spouses group, for which Ms Milledge is an administrator, and that the issue of workers' rights under the stamp 3 visa falls within the remit of the Department of Justice.

The committee recommends that the correspondence from Dr. Orlaigh Quinn, Secretary General at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, be sent to Ms Milledge for comment and to please respond within 14 days, and that correspondence from Dr. Quinn, along with Mrs Milledge’s petition, be forwarded to the Department of Justice with a request for a response within 14 days. Do members have any views on this petition?

Deputy Pat Buckley

I agree with the proposal. I would like to say fair play to the secretariat on this petition because a lot of work has gone into it. I think this is the appropriate recommendation so I support it on that basis.

Senator Eugene Murphy

I support what Deputy Buckley said. I also thank the secretariat for the work it has done on this matter. I am willing to accept the proposal.

Chairman

That is agreed. The second petition, No. 14/22, proposes to raise the Defence Forces’ upper age limit and is under the name of Mr. Stephen Martin. The petitioner considers that current upper age limits for joining the Defence Forces are very restrictive and, as a result, there is a risk the Defence Forces are missing out on suitable candidates who are keen to join but are currently above the age limits. The Department of Defence responded providing information on current age limits for general service, technicians, cadets and certain specialist positions, and advising there are no current plans to change the limits set out. The secretariat forwarded the correspondence from the Department of Defence to Mr. Martin and received a reply from him setting out the various reasons he thinks the age limit should be reviewed and raised, including understaffing. The petitioner stated the Minister for Defence, Deputy Coveney, acknowledged in a Dáil debate on 12 May 2022 that the "Permanent Defence Force is currently under strength by just over 1,000 personnel" and to reach the level of ambition the Defence Forces are aiming for would "require an additional 2,000 personnel beyond the establishment figure of 9,500".

The committee recommends the correspondence from Mr. Martin be sent to Ms Jacqui McCrum, Secretary General of the Department of Defence, for comment and to please respond within 14 days. Do members have any views on this petition?

Deputy Pat Buckley

I have worked on stuff like this when it was raised through my office. There is a shortage of members in our Defence Forces. I understand where Mr. Martin is coming from. There are people in their late 30s or early 40s who want to go into the Defence Forces but they are engineers, mechanics or painters. These are services that are needed within the Defence Forces and these people are well able and fully qualified to do the job they have been doing. It would be no harm for the Department of Defence to look at this and try to take a common-sense approach. Not everybody has to be 18, 19 or 20 going into the Defence Forces. We have people with a profession who could be utilised and take the stress off certain parts of the Department. I look forward to the response in two weeks' time.

Chairman

I echo Deputy Buckley's point. None of us is in any doubt that there are people in that age group who could take up a position in the Defence Forces, although maybe not on the front line.

There are positions whereby we could increase the staffing level of the Defence Forces. Do other members wish to comment? No.

The next petition is No. 25/22, from Mr. Patrick Lynn, who calls for chefs to be added to the critical skills list now to save Irish hospitality. The petitioner considers that chefs should be added to the critical skills occupations list to support the Irish hospitality sector in its recovery. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment responded by advising, among other things that all chefs are eligible for the general employment permit since 2019 and must have a minimum remuneration of €30,000; that the critical skills occupations list is the State's premium permit that is used to attract highly skilled employees to take up residence and employment in the State like medical professionals; and that ICT or financial practitioners must have a minimum income of €32,000 with a degree and €64,000 without a degree. The Department also set out Fáilte Ireland's role in helping the hospitality sector to recover.

The committee recommends that the correspondence from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment be forwarded to the petitioner, Mr. Patrick Lynn, for comment and to advise him to please respond within 14 days; that we contact Fáilte Ireland about his plan to help employers in the hospitality sector to meet the challenges of recruiting and retaining staff, and to please respond within 14 days; and that Mr. Lynn be invited to attend a meeting of the Committee on Public Petitions to discuss his petition. Do members have views on the recommendations?

Senator Eugene Murphy

I agree that Mr. Lynn should be invited in because we all accept there is a massive crisis. In my own county and region it is very difficult to recruit and retain staff. As the Chairman will know, in many respects it is an employees' arena in terms of jobs. One of the reasons it is difficult to recruit and retain staff is because some hospitality work involves working unsocial hours. People can choose not to be away from their families at night and work straight days or whatever. We need to do everything that we can to help the sector because hotels and restaurants are struggling.

There is one chink of light. I know of a wonderful family-run hotel in my area. They work so hard and they have found it very difficult to recruit all staff ranging from floor staff, waiters and waitresses and they have found it extremely difficult to recruit chefs. The owners of the hotel were asked to take some Ukrainians and give a few rooms over to them. Thankfully, one of the Ukrainians is a chef. She is a wonderful young lady and she now works in the hotel. There is a slight language barrier but they are getting over that. That is a little chink of light but the industry is in crisis with trying to recruit and retain of staff and I am very concerned. Owners of two businesses wrote to me to inform me they now close their premises every Monday and Tuesday because they cannot get the staff and they cannot expect their current staff to work seven days a week. That is going to happen throughout the country.

Chairman

I am sure that the Senator will get widespread agreement on inviting in Mr. Lynn to present his petition to the committee. I do not believe anyone will object. We all appreciate that, countrywide, the industry is starting to creak and cannot be left to continue without some intervention.

Deputy Pat Buckley

I echo what has been said by Senator Murphy. The industry is at breaking point. We are all aware of businesses that are trying their best to after emerging from Covid and everything. Some businesses have been swamped with customers, thanks be to God, but the industry is in a critical state when it comes to recruiting chefs and cooks. Therefore, it is worth inviting Mr. Lynn in on this and exploring it a bit more.

Chairman

Is that agreed? Agreed. I echo the comments about the secretariat. The secretariat do an unbelievable amount of work on our behalf and it is work the public does not get to see. As Chairman, I thank the secretariat for all the work they do on our behalf to get petitions in front of the committee.

Senator Eugene Murphy

I might add that the secretariat do their work enthusiastically.

Chairman

Yes. That concludes our consideration of public petitions this afternoon. I invite members of the public to submit petitions via our online portal at petitions.oireachtas.ie. A petition may be addressed to the Houses of the Oireachtas on a matter of general public concern or interest or an issue of public policy.

The next issue on our agenda is any other business. Would members like to make any final comments?

Senator Eugene Murphy

Unfortunately, on a Wednesday the meetings of the Joint Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands overlap with our meetings.

Chairman

The meeting times clash.

Senator Eugene Murphy

I am not asking anybody to make a decision now. Deputy Buckley and I were members of the previous petitions committee. At that time the committee had a policy of meeting in private for 15 to 20 minutes before the public meeting. I know it may not be possible to do that now but it may be one way of getting out of having to meet on two days. There are things we want to talk about privately before commencing a public meeting and we do not want to raise those matters before discussing them with other members. It may not be possible but could we look at it?

Committee on Public Petitions díospóireacht - Thursday, 26 May 2022

Decisions on Public Petitions Received

Committee on Public Petitions díospóireacht -
Thursday, 26 May 2022