Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 November 2012
328. Deputy Ray Butler asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he is considering the development of a technology visa for IT professionals as recommended by the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation report, A review of the Information Communication Technology Demand in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49619/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraSince 2004, Irish labour market policy has been to ensure that general labour and skills needs are met from within the workforce of the European Economic Area (EEA). 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 and labour shortages in designated occupations in key economic sectors such as health care, information technology and financial services.
Ireland has to compete with other countries for migrant labour, particularly in respect of high-level skills. Skills required in the high-tech sectors are in demand and in short supply globally. 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, there continues to be a need to supplement Ireland’s skills stock through employment permits and to ensure that Ireland’s employment permits system is geared towards attracting such skills.
The Department of Justice and Equality is responsible for the implementation of policy in relation to the admission of non-EEA nationals to the State and their residence in the State. However, the employment permit regime provides for control of Ireland’s labour market as well as powers for enforcement of employment rights. Deputies will be only too aware that economic migrants are a vulnerable class of people. Therefore, any actions affecting inward economic migration should be cognisant of the need to ensure that such migrants are protected and made aware of their employment rights.
The Employment Permits regime is supporting the enterprise sector and significant levels of applications are successful particularly those based on high skills levels. Figures indicate: a reduction in total applications in line with economic circumstances, but an increase in Green Card applications, in line with a greater emphasis on high value skills; and an increase in the proportion of applications in respect of ICT job roles with applications in respect of ICT job roles being more successful than the norm. Over 90% of ICT related applications are successful and over 1,000 ICT related applications have been approved so far this year. My Department has reviewed its processes with a view to attracting more ICT related applications and is confident that significant improvements can be made shortly which will greatly enhance the employment permits regime, for example, in conjunction with Forfás, a review is underway of the Green Card Employment Permit Scheme which is used by Ireland to meet labour market requirements where skills shortages have been identified by reference to analyses undertaken by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs. An interim review of the four core employment permit types - Green Cards, Intra-Company Transfers, Work Permits and Spousal/Dependents - is being conducted with a view to improving the throughput and quality of employment permit applications. Such an initiative would favour the ICT sector in particular as it would include a streamlining of the documentary process, a reduction in the time it takes for applicants to prepare a successful application, and a significant reduction in processing times. Closer interactions are being cultivated with the Department of Justice and Equality with a view to providing a more coherent service across the employment permit regime and visa regime including policy convergence, greater information sharing and unified communications from both Departments in respect of labour market access. I intend to announce a range of improvements in this regard shortly.
It is also the Government’s ambition that Ireland should take advantage of the opportunities for employment in the ICT sector and that every opportunity is afforded to our graduates and unemployed to prepare them with the skills required to work in that sector. Employment Permits are but one way of increasing the level of ICT skills available in the labour market. Building Ireland’s ICT skills capability will require improving the domestic output of skilled ICT graduates and my colleague the Minister for Education and Skills has already put in place plans to establish an overarching target of doubling the annual output from honours degree ICT undergraduate programmes to 2,000 graduates by 2018. These plans involve actions to: increase the domestic supply of honours degree graduates in the short term through expansion of conversion; and boost the longer term supply and quality of graduates from the higher education system.
Finally, work is also proceeding with regard to the preparation of new employment permits legislation which will provide for more flexibility and targeted instruments in support of the economy’s evolving skills needs. Heads of Bill were approved by Government last April and since then, my Department has been engaged with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel (OPC) in order to progress the drafting of the Bill.
