The programme for Government outlines our commitment to addressing skills shortages and supporting economic growth through a strategic migration approach. Ireland’s general policy is to promote the sourcing of labour from within Ireland and the EEA. To fulfil this policy, Ireland operates and manages an employment permits system designed to fill critical skills and labour shortages in the short to medium term where those skills are not available within Ireland or the EEA. This targeted approach ensures that Irish enterprise has access to the talent it needs to remain productive, competitive and innovative, particularly in the context of near full employment. The employment permits system is managed on the basis of two occupations lists. The critical skills occupations list prioritises specific in-demand professional roles crucial to the functioning of Irish society such as healthcare and IT. Minimum annual remuneration for roles on the critical skills occupations list start at €38,000 for those with a relevant degree and €64,000 for those with relevant experience. The ineligible occupations list identifies roles for which a labour supply should be available in the Irish or EEA labour market and so are ineligible for consideration for an employment permit. All roles not on either list are eligible for general employment permits which have a minimum annual remuneration of €34,000 for most roles. The occupations lists are subject to periodic review. This means that in times of economic expansion, eligible occupation categories may be expanded to provide for labour and skills shortages. During a period of economic contraction, eligible occupation categories can be narrowed and other restrictions applied.
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The employment permit system is demand-led and designed to respond to the real labour market needs. The occupations list is reviewed periodically. The next formal review is scheduled for the summer. It will be open to all sectors. We invite many representative bodies, Departments and NGOs to make submissions. It is evidence-based. It is reviewed and overseen by an interdepartmental group on economic migration, the skills and labour market research unit and Department of Social Protection. We recently made 43 changes to the occupations list. That reflects the new critical skills required. We are making changes including in key sectors such as science, engineering and health. I will come back to the Deputy about his question on the ongoing performance of the current system which was implemented as part of an action plan. It has been working well in recent months.
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I thank the Deputy for his focus on this important area. The consultation will open shortly. We will make that announcement in due course. It will open for an eight-week period. There will be an opportunity for employers, representative bodies and Departments to make submissions. This is very much a transparent, data-driven process. It is open to all sectors. Most recently, we opened the eligible occupation list for town planners in order to deliver the infrastructure and the housing we need, and for social and home care helpers because it is really important we continue to invest in the care of older people. We also have a shortage of HGV, coach and bus drivers. The single application procedure for employment permits and the immigration permissions will be central in terms of how we have one system fit for the State.
Sentiment score: 0.19
I thank the Deputy for his question. Balanced regional development remains a key Government priority. One central aim of the White Paper on Enterprise 2022-2030 is to support balanced regional economic development. My Department and its agencies contribute to this agenda in several ways, including through the nine regional enterprise plans or REPs. These are bottom-up plans developed and led by regional stakeholders, which focus on collaborative initiatives to strengthen the enterprise ecosystem in each region. As mentioned in response to a parliamentary question during Question Time on 20 February 2025, with agreement from the regional enterprise plans national oversight group at its meeting of 25 April 2024, the current REPs have been extended for one year to the end of 2025. This extension provides an additional year for the continued implementation of the current plans and time to consider the best approach to the development of successor plans throughout 2025. There is a clear commitment in the new programme for Government to publish and resource new regional enterprise plans. Before we develop these new plans, I am assessing our approach to date so I can set a clear framework for the future and engage all of the relevant stakeholders in each region. An independent review of the regional enterprise plan initiative is currently under way. The review began in January 2025 and the final report is due to be delivered by the end of this month. A steering group was established to oversee the review. The REP national oversight group, or NOG, met last week, with the Minister, Deputy Burke, the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, and me co-chairing the meeting. The NOG brought together the chairs from the regional committees and other key stakeholders to discuss implementation of the REPs and related policies. We will ensure that we also develop a new policy statement in the second half of this year. In turn, that will lead to the development of the next set of regional enterprise plans.
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I agree with the points and the principles the Deputy has presented. The regional enterprise plan for the west is very much a collaborative initiative and must be focused on digitalisation and decarbonisation and on ensuring that the region itself is put to the fore. We have a good story to tell about sectoral growth in ICT, agritech and medtech. It is great to hear about the large multimillion euro investment in Deputy Dolan's town of Athenry, where Dexcom created 1,000 jobs. We want to support that even further in regard to artificial intelligence. We will shortly publish the cluster programme, which will be important. There will also be a new life science strategy. AI will be central to both our indigenous and FDI investments. Following the publication of the Indecon report on the framework for the new regional enterprise plans-----
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-----a core element of that will be how we use digital technology to support the plans in the future.
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The fact that the tourism function has moved into the enterprise Department means there is a role to expand within the agrifood and tech sector. In my county, agritech is an important sector. We have McHale Farm Machinery and Malone Farm Machinery. The west must be a focal point and have centres of excellence. It is great to hear about such positive developments such as CREW and the other sectors within Galway. It has a really strong ecosystem and that is down to the hard work with the local authorities, public representatives and key State agencies on development and investment. Indeed, I want that to continue within the new west regional enterprise plan. I am sure we will be in touch and I know the Deputy is a huge advocate for business, enterprise and ensuring we create the jobs to ensure people have that quality of life to live and raise a family within their locality.
Sentiment score: 0.42