Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton.

New law to reform work permit system

Trade
Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Richard Bruton TD. (Source: Photocall Ireland)

24 April 2014

The government has published the Employment Permits (Amendment) Bill 2014. The law, when enacted, seeks to reform and modernise Ireland’s employment permits system as part of a plan to bridge the skills gap afflicting the ICT sector.

The new legislation follows other reforms in this area including a reduction of 58% in the processing time for employment permits; increases in the number of skilled graduates available in Ireland; and broadening the highly-skilled eligible occupations list.

Publishing the legislation, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton (pictured) said: “The ICT sector is a central part of our Action Plan for Jobs, and since taking office we have put in place a range of measures to support accelerated job-creation in this area… Working closely with Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn we have delivered substantial improvements in the past three years, and this has made a major contribution to the overall increase in the numbers of people at work in this area. Under the most recent ICT Action Plan at least three out of four vacancies in the ICT sector will be filled by graduates from Irish colleges – this is a major leap forward from the 45% that prevailed in 2011.

“The legislation we are publishing… codifies and clarifies the law in this area to make the system more transparent and obligations clearer to businesses and other stakeholders. It also makes the system more flexible and responsive to changing economic circumstances, so that our employment permits system can respond quickly and allow our economy benefit from quickly-emerging opportunities.”

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