Vol. 516 No. 5
98 Mrs. Owen asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of work permits issued to non-EEA citizens in each of the years from 1998 to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8036/00]
The total number of work permits issued by my Department in respect of the employment of non-European Economic Area nationals in the years in question was 5,700 in 1998, 6,200 in 1999 and 1,790 so far this year.
What policies is the Government putting into place to permit non-EEA citizens to work in Ireland? Are there any proposals to change the current policy to make it easier to attract people with certain skills from those areas to work in Ireland?
As the Deputy is aware, it is my intention to present to the Government next Tuesday a memorandum in relation to immigration policy. There is a need for a proactive policy. At present an employer must find an employee and then make an application to my Department for a permit. If those employees live abroad, it is a cumbersome process which takes a long time. It is not satisfactory. The intention is to have a proactive policy to identify on a skills basis people who could be offered jobs in this economy from outside the EEA and to put a mechanism in place, through FÁS and other agencies, to recruit such persons. The Government will make a decision on that matter next Tuesday and, when a decision is made, the proposals will be published.
Mr. Paul Tansey, who carried out an economic study for Forfás, forecast that in order for the terms of the national development plan to be implemented, it will be necessary to bring an additional 200,000 workers into the country. Although the labour force is growing in this country, it is doing so at a much slower rate than in other European countries. We estimate that 100,000 of those 200,000 people will comprise Irish people returning to Ireland from abroad. A huge effort is currently being made to attract Irish citizens back into the country.
Some 2,500 of the people currently seeking asylum in Ireland are qualified to work and they have been issued with authorisations by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. A unit is being established within FÁS to assist them with training and securing employment.
Does the Minister intend to initiate a marketing campaign abroad to encourage people who have skills in the areas in which shortages have been identified to return to Ireland, particularly those involved in the hotel and catering industry?
This is as much a matter of economic policy as anything else. We want to ensure that we have jobs for the people who return to this country; it would not make any sense to bring people into the country to whom we could not offer employment. We will be marketing job opportunities in various parts of the world although that will not be carried out on a country quota basis, rather on a skills basis. It will be open to people from all over the world to seek employment here. Obviously, we will use our existing State agencies abroad to assist in this marketing.
What is the Government's long-term strategy, for example over the next ten years, with regard to bringing workers into this country? She stated that an additional 200,000 workers will be required. Could our existing infrastructure sustain such levels of migration? Has the Government developed any long-term policy to cope with this level of growth?
The population of Ireland is quite small at 3.7 million people so we could certainly sustain more people. It would be important that that would be done on the basis of regional development. It would not be desirable to bring thousands of people into our larger cities, certainly not into the Dublin area, as that would not be sustainable. We will aim for more balanced regional development and I envisage that many of the people coming into the country would work in the regions.
