Vol. 558 No. 6
5 Mr. P. Breen asked the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her views on the fact that 200,000 immigrants require to be facilitated in order to fill job vacancies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24890/02]
The figure of 200,000 immigrants from overseas being needed in the period 2000-06 originated in the report of the interdepartmental group on immigration policy presented in early 2000 based on the growth projections contained in the national development plan.
Rates of economic growth, employment growth and immigration have been higher than expected in the early years of the national development plan. Immigration has taken place on a very large scale in recent years. A total of 105,807 work permits and working visas were issued to non-EEA nationals in the period 1999 to 2002 to date. This is in addition to inward immigration from elsewhere in the EU and Irish nationals returning from abroad.
Inward migration in the next few years will clearly be governed by the rate of economic growth. All indications suggest that there will be a continuing need for overseas workers but not at the rate experienced in the period of exceptionally high growth. We are continually monitoring developments in the labour market and adjusting the criteria and procedures for the issuance of work permits and visas to reflect changing conditions.
The Minister announced on 4 March 2000, that 200,000 extra workers would be required to implement the national development plan. There may be some duplication in the figure of 105,807 she has given as people have to re-apply for their permits. That is my understanding of how the system operates in regard to work permits.
When will the Minister have an immigration policy in place? When will the statutory footing for the work permit system be introduced in the Dáil? Does she have any plans to bring forward the introduction of the skills-based selection system?
The skills-based scheme is already in place. Some 6,000 to 7,000 have come on to it. They are people in the ICT sector, nurses and building professionals. Clearly, there have been fewer in the ICT sector in recent times because of the downturn in the area but we have had a large number of nurses and other medical workers from overseas. It has been extended to other medical categories as well.
The Deputy is correct in what he said about the number of work permits. The number of renewals is rising all the time and this year may be in the region of 40%. The figures I gave do not include those who are coming from other European countries. It is suggested that we have as many as 80,000 foreign workers in this economy.
The legislation is imminent and should be ready in the early part of next year. We have an immigration policy. I recently got FÁS involved because of the huge growth in the number of work permits so that we could have a system on the ground to assess whether people were available in localities to fill the jobs. I intend, shortly, to make it even more strict to ensure that employers use locally available labour.
Does the Minister accept the current system whereby employers apply for work permits is totally unworkable and has resulted in exploitation of non-nationals who come to Ireland to work? Has she examined the possibility of introducing a green card system along the lines I proposed in a document to end the chaos two and a half years ago? Is it proposed in the upcoming legislation to put the mechanism currently in place on a statutory footing or will there be a fair and fundamental change?
I do not accept the system is in chaos or that people are being exploited. Unfortunately, there have been a number of examples of exploitation.
Therefore, some people are exploited.
Some are but this does not only affect foreigners. No society is perfect and from time to time this happens in every economy. It is important that action is taken when such matters are brought to our attention. Our employment laws apply equally to domestic and foreign workers.
Foreign workers are tied to their employers.
Not in all cases. There are several cases where we have issued work permits so that people could move. If a complaint is substantiated, work permits are not issued to the employer involved again and the worker involved is permitted to move to alternative employment if it is available.
The issue of a green card has been considered. The difficulty is that it would be based on a skills-based, points system.
There is one in Australia.
I am aware of that. Approximately 45% of permits are issued for low or no skills job. We are seriously examining giving preference to EU applicant countries because in a number of years their citizens will be free to travel here anyway. That will be the outcome of the current legislative process.
