Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 February 2019
309. Deputy Willie Penrose asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation further to Parliamentary Question No. 289 of 29 January 2019, the steps she will take to have the application for general employment work permit assessed pursuant to the trusted partners programme and have same expedited due to the importance of the matter to the business (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5696/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe objective of the Trusted Partner Initiative is to ease the administrative burden on employers and to remove the requirement that they replicate the same employer information in respect of each employment permit application made. It is aimed primarily at high volume users of the Employment Permit regime or those who expect to become regular users of the employment permits system.
An application to become a Trusted Partner can be made online via the Employment Permits Online System which can be accessed at https://epos.djei.ie/.
The Employment Permits Section of my Department inform me that the employer in question is not a registered Trusted Partner and, as such, applications made by this employer can only be considered as standard applications.
An application for a General Employment Permit for the individual concerned was received on 12th December 2018. As such, this application is scheduled to be processed within the next 4-5 weeks, however I have asked my officials to expedite this application.
Ireland operates a managed vacancy led employment permit scheme in which an occupation list system for in-demand occupations, the Highly Skilled Eligible Occupations List (HSEOL), and those occupations where the evidence suggests that there is a ready source of labour available domestically and/or across the EEA, the Ineligible Categories of Employment List (ICEL). These lists of highly skilled and ineligible occupations are reviewed twice yearly in order to ensure that the employment permits scheme remains responsive to changes in economic circumstances and labour market conditions.
A review of the occupation lists is being currently being finalised and I expect to receive a report of the review shortly.
