Ireland has issued a total of 27,181 work permits across all economic sectors in the first eight months of 2024, with 3,358 of them (12 per cent) granted last month alone.
The highest number of work permits was issued by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE) to the health and social work sector or 9,125, followed by the information and communication activities (4,628) as well as agriculture, forestry and fishing, Schengen.News reports.
Of the total, 2,533 work permits were issued for the sectors of agriculture, forestry and fishing in the first eight months of this year.
The figures from DETE reveal that in August, there were 272 permits, followed by 402 permits issued in July, which accounted for the second most significant increase after February, during which month 591 permits were issued.
New Employment Permit Law
Since September 2 this year, Ireland has implemented a new permit law aimed at supporting the agriculture and horticulture sectors, among others.
In addition, the Employment Permits Act 2024 also includes the provision of a new seasonal employment permit, a short-term permit for non-European Economic Area (EEA) nationals to work for seven months in a seasonally recurrent employment.
Announcing the new changes, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment said that the provision would help agriculture and horticulture deal with labour shortages.
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment of Ireland, Peter Burke, said that the improvement in the country’s Employment Permits Acts would permit for a more flexible system.
Minister Burke said the improvement would also ensure that the rights of employees were maintained.
The improvements in the new Act will allow for a more modern, flexible employment permit system as well as ensure employee rights are maintained.
Attempts to Address Labour Shortages
In July this year, the 2023 EURES report revealed that Ireland is facing labour shortages in 20 occupations.
According to the report, among the most affected sectors are the following ones:
- Healthcare
- IT
- Engineering
- Manufacturing
- Construction
- Transportation
A significant demand in Ireland is also noted for the workers in healthcare roles. The same shows that Ireland is among the EU countries with the highest reliance on international-trained doctors and nurses.
Among the EURES countries, Ireland, Norway, and Switzerland show the highest dependency on foreign-trained doctors, and Ireland, Switzerland, and Austria show the highest dependency on foreign-trained nurses.
Ireland’s labour shortages, which are noted in several sectors, result in a surge in work permit issuance. The figures from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment revealed that in the first half of this year, a total of 19,303 work permits were issued, accounting for an increase of 20.5 per cent compared to the figures from the same period last year.
