Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 May 2022
4. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the current processing time for work permit applications; his plans to reform the current scheme due to labour shortages within sectors of the economy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25657/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraEight out of ten businesses are now struggling to fill vacancies and we need a suite of novel solutions to address this, including making work pay for those in low-paid employment, addressing youth unemployment, making our regions more attractive for employers and employees and reviewing the operation of our work permit system.
I thank Deputy Naughten for raising the question in respect of work permits. I agree with him on the issue of access to skills. Every company we talk to across the country raises the issue with us. The regional enterprise plans will be of major assistance in helping us focus our minds on this. I also refer to the regional skills fora and various national skills strategies working across the Department of Education as well. The solutions to this and the skills shortage are right across the system in developing skills, apprenticeships, further education and training and a blend of higher education across nine Departments, including Social Protection; Enterprise, Trade and Employment; and the Department of Education. All have a role in this, in conjunction with employers and agencies locally as well.
The Deputy referred to the permits as a part of a temporary solution. They should never be seen as a long-term solution. I am happy to focus on that because it is what the question is about. Our Department has experienced a significant increase in applications for employment permits in the past year, impacting on processing times. From the start of January to the end of December 2021, 27,666 applications were received, representing a 70% increase, showing there is a significant demand for permits as a solution to a labour shortage. From the point of view of my Department, it should not always be seen as a solution. It can be of temporary assistance in an area of shortage of critical skills and that is fair enough but it should not be a long-term solution.
The legislation we are bringing forward this year will bring changes to the permit system to make it more flexible and reflect the nature of employment at any given time and will also introduce the option of a seasonal permit which will be of assistance in certain sectors. On the overall terms and conditions of the permits system, during the review that happens twice a year we work with all the parent Departments and various sectors in respect of the terms and conditions. We would generally agree that there is an opportunity, because of the high employment rate at the moment, to work on those terms and conditions and improve them. There is a mechanism whereby we set them in conjunction with the various Departments.
On the specific matter the Deputy raised, I am happy to tease it through with him.
The Minister of State is correct that the permit system is a short-term solution but we do need that sticking plaster at the moment. A constituent was on to me this morning whose holidays have been cancelled because the hotel in question has closed. We are encouraging people to holiday at home but they are getting their deposits back for holidays. At the moment the effective waiting time for processing a work permit is seven months. That is completely unacceptable when there is such a crisis in staffing. The Minister of State needs to look again at the definition of the critical skills and ineligible occupations to deal with a short-term issue that is causing a crisis right across our economy.
I do not think any of us would stand over the processing time for permits over the last year. However, we have to recognise that the number of applications went up by 70% and those numbers are continuing to increase this year. It looks like there will be over 35,000 permits applied for this year. We have put an action plan together since last November under the guidance of the Tánaiste. We have trebled the number of staff working in this sector and more than trebled the number of permits being issued per week. This time last year an average of about 250 or 300 permits were processed per week. Last week, for example, over 1,200 permits were processed and issued. In the majority of cases they are successfully processed. There has been a major improvement. There was a backlog coming into this year of about 11,000 permits. That is now down to under 6,000 and we are processing the general permits much more quickly than that.
The Deputy mentioned seven months. That is not the case any more, thankfully. The critical permits are down to about six weeks processing time, which I think is acceptable. Naturally when we bring the general permits down to that level we will be able to go further with the six weeks. The general employment permit was around 23 or 24 weeks and is back down to 16 weeks with trusted partners and about 21 weeks-----
Yesterday it was 22 weeks.
For non-trusted partners it is about 21 weeks. With the team of people involved now, we are quite happy that we will make great inroads into that time over the next couple of weeks. The 3,000 permits that were applied for since October in the horticulture and meat industry sectors are nearly all processed now which is a big bang. That will help us focus on bringing the timeline well down from 21 weeks.
Another short-term solution we could take is actually to make work pay, particularly within our tax and welfare codes. It should always be financially better for people to return to work. We still have 4.8% unemployment and 5.6% youth unemployment. We have a substantial number of people who are only willing to work three days a week because the system prohibits them from taking on overtime or working the full five days. We have cliff-edge barriers like the PRSI barrier and the bizarre situation that social housing income thresholds have not increased for the last decade while the cost of housing has more than doubled. When are we going to address those real barriers?
A couple of issues there are not under our Department. I understand the report on social housing limits is with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, at the moment and he hopes to bring forward those changes very soon. He took questions on the matter here last week. That would be a positive step. We all recognise that they have not changed since 2011. The social housing barrier and the housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme, were changed a number of years ago to make it easier for people to return to work. The previous system under the rent allowance, as the Deputy will know, would have penalised people going back to work. That does not happen now with the HAP. People do not lose their payment as they would have done under the old ways.
I agree with the Deputy on the social welfare code and the matter of days versus hours. Some people could possibly take up work for a number of hours per day over five days as opposed to three days. The old system, the Xs and Os as we called it, did not allow for that. A number of reports have been laid before the Houses over the years and we should try to get change on that. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is willing to look at the matter and has been working with her Department to see if we can change it.
On trying to fill the skills gap, there is a shortage of people in many sectors, not all of them in critical skills. We have to look at every mechanism. That involves working with the sector. We engage with the hospitality sector and will prioritise it in respect of chefs and so on. These next couple of months are key for them. We also have to work with sectors such as retail, hospitality and agriculture around solutions and training. I highlight the Pathways to Work programme. There is a lot of assistance there for employers and helping people get off the live register. Schemes like the job placement scheme are very effective but are not being fully utilised. Everybody has to play their part if we are to solve the labour shortage issue.
