Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 October 2012
310. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Jobs; Enterprise and Innovation if work is on-going on the creation of a visa for professionals in the ICT sector which is necessary in order that the world's top ICT companies can continue to be attracted and retained here. [43439/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraIrish labour market policy is to ensure that general labour and skills needs are met from within the workforce of the EEA (comprising of the Member States of the EU plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein). Current Government policy is to issue employment permits for the employment of non-EEA nationals for specific vacancies and in response to employer demand for strategic skills/labour shortages in designated occupations in key economic sectors such as healthcare, information technology and financial services.
ICT is a key sector for Ireland due to the importance of its on-going levels of employment and exports and its future potential. As such, the availability of high-level ICT skills for the ICT sector is of strategic economic importance to Ireland in terms of continued growth in investments from foreign companies.
However, recruitment challenges have emerged for high-level ICT skills and it is estimated that there are in excess of 1,500 job vacancies in the ICT sector. While increasing the supply of high-level skills from domestic sources is the most sustainable way forward in the long term, in the short term, companies will continue to rely on inward migration for sourcing ICT personnel. A range of employment permits initiatives have been put in place to address this skills issue. The Green Card Employment Permit Scheme is used by Ireland to meet labour market requirements where skills shortages have been identified by reference to analyses undertaken by the ESGFN. It is designed to attract highly skilled and highly paid individuals into the labour market with the aim of encouraging them to take up permanent residence in the State. Cognisance is also given to the strategic imperative of the missions of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, with priority being afforded to their clients.
The Intra-Company Transfer Employment Permit Scheme, introduced in 2007, facilitates the transfer of trans-national senior personnel between related companies. State agencies, including the IDA and Enterprise Ireland, consider this scheme to be very important in the context of foreign direct investment. Also, the Work Permits Employment Permit Scheme provides for a further channel for employers and prospective employees to source ICT skills.
Over 1,100 employment permits were issued in 2011 and just over 1,000 to-date in 2012, in respect of ICT skills with nearly 93% of applications being successful. In an effort to bridge the gap that currently exists, DJEI is at present reviewing its employment permits schemes in the context of simplifying employment permit applications and streamlining the application process for the ICT sector.
