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Work Permits

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 1 December 2021

Wednesday, 1 December 2021

Ceisteanna (46)

Richard O'Donoghue

Ceist:

46. Deputy Richard O'Donoghue asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the reason for the slow issuing of work permits for the hospitality sector seeking workers from abroad; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59417/21]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

The employment permits system is designed to facilitate the entry of appropriately skilled non-EEA nationals to fill skills and/or labour shortages, in circumstances where there are no suitably qualified Irish/EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one.  The system is managed through the use of lists designating highly skilled and ineligible occupations.

Since March 2020, my Department has implemented Covid-19 contingency arrangements moving employment permit operations seamlessly to a totally remote working environment.  Feedback received from enterprise across the board has been universally positive.  In fact, Ireland was one of the few countries that has managed to keep their employment permit system fully operational throughout the crisis. 

From the outset of the crisis, in order to assist the HSE and all other medical providers in the State to respond to, and to assist with, the public health response to the threat of Covid-19, all medical employment permits are expedited with immediate effect. 

My Department has seen a significant increase in applications for employment permits in 2021.  To the end of October, some 20,269 applications were received, representing a 50% increase over the same period in 2020 (13,425) and a 30% increase on 2019 (15,576), which itself represented an 11 year high in applications.  Processing times have been impacted by this increase in demand but also as a result of the HSE cyber-attack.  As a result of the HSE cyber-attack, employment permit applications associated with the July Doctors rotation (which occurs twice yearly in January and July) had to be submitted either manually or through other nonstandard methods.  This resulted in a significant additional administrative burden in dealing with these applications requiring staff to be temporarily reassigned to assist in this process.  The increased time required in processing these manual applications has had a direct impact on wider processing times for other employment permit applications. 

Cognisant of the significant impact the pandemic has had on the Hospitality Sector, when the sector reopened in July, my Department committed to prioritise the processing of chef employment permit applications received in the processing queue at that time, in order to support the sector. 

My Department is very conscious of the recent lengthening of timeframes for processing Employment Permit applications and is committed to reducing these further.  As such the Employment Permits Unit has commenced steps to address the current backlog, confident that they will bear fruit over the coming months.  It advises all employers to take the current timelines into account as part of their recruitment plans.

My Department updates the employment permit processing timelines on its website on a weekly basis and regularly issues updates on relevant employment permit matters through the Employment Permits Trusted Partners network such as the September update on employment permit processing timelines. 

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