2026-07-01

13. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to provide an update on his Department's progress in establishing a single application process for employment permits and visa applications; the progress that has been made to date by the interdepartmental group established to review this process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48684/26]

Will the Minister to provide an update on the Department's progress in establishing a single application process for employment permits and visa applications, the progress that has been made to date by the interdepartmental group established to review this process, and will he make a statement on the matter?

As the Deputy will be aware, the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, is centrally involved in this. Government approved plans in May 2024 to introduce a single permit for people coming to Ireland to live and work. Currently, employment permits, visas and residency permits are processed separately. This is a significant technical project involving the integration of two IT systems. In the short term, we are streamlining the existing process by removing duplication, aligning online information and introducing a single payment model. These improvements will make the system simpler and more efficient. In recent weeks, the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, had a very productive meeting with the Minister of State with responsibility for employment, small business and retail, Deputy Alan Dillon, and his officials on this project. The project is progressing through a phased development and scoping process, with ongoing cross-departmental engagement to support the design and testing of the proposed model prior to wider implementation. A pilot is also currently being scoped out to test the proposed new approach to delivering the single permit directive. Changes introduced in 2024 also mean that spouses and partners of employment permit holders can now take up employment without requiring separate employment authorisation. These initiatives support the long-term sustainability of our economy while recognising the important contribution that legal migrants make to our society. My Department is also leading the development of Ireland’s first whole-of-government migration strategy, which I and Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, are working on intensively, and we hope to publish this strategy later this year. There is progress being made in respect of this. The Ministers of State, Deputies Brophy and Dillon, are centrally involved in it and I hope to be able to provide the Deputy with further progress reports on final timelines in due course.

I raise this because one of the areas where I have had many people on to me is for those who are working in nursing homes. There seems to be a huge problem between work permits and residency permits. For instance, I had one case which I sent a parliamentary question on to the Minister, where the person made an application for an IRP card on 6 March and by 30 June - 16 weeks later - it still had not issued. I am concerned there is a lack of information for both employers and employees about the process. I have had cases where applications should have been made well before the card expired, but many people are not doing that and there needs to be more information sent out by the Department. However, I am concerned about the 16 weeks for an IRP card application that still has not been issued as of today.

That is a concerning period, but people sometimes leave applications until the very last moment and that is not good practice. It will create difficulties for them, so we need to encourage people who are applying for renewals to apply early. As I said, an implementation team has been established jointly between my Department and the Department of enterprise to commence implementation of the single permit model. This is really the solution to the issue, Deputy. The programme is being delivered on a phased basis in the short-term and officials are examining how best to re-engineer processes to remove duplication and scope possible technical solutions. A single approach to how work permits and visas can be processed is also being developed, with changes to include a single payment model. I understand the Deputy's concern in respect of the delays, and obviously, this can apply to anyone in the House, but if there are issues with respect to applications they think merit bringing to my attention or that of the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, they may feel free to do so.

Where it really affects my constituency is, taking Apple computers for instance, which is the biggest employer in the constituency, there are people from 90 different nationalities working in that facility and it is important that this information gets out to employers. The problem arising is the delays in the processing now. I outlined the case of 16 weeks, which should not be happening, but people are being advised they must apply and that it will take 12 weeks. There is then the whole issue of the period in which people can continue to work even where the card has not been renewed on time. That also needs to be looked at. Until such time that we streamline the system and make it far easier for people to have both the work permit and residency permit and all the processes sorted, we will have people - and I have had several of them - who will be laid off work until the issue has been resolved, which is now causing problems.

It is a challenging task from the point of view of the Department. I have been to the section of the Department dealing with visa applications, and there are huge numbers of people there; you realise the extent to which each application has to be considered and appraised individually. There is a significant number of applications coming in and they need to be considered individually. I hear what the Deputy has said about Apple. Obviously, we want to ensure people who are here believe and feel they get an effective response from the public service in Ireland. In general, I believe they do. However, one of the consequences and downsides of being a TD is people only ever come to us problems. People who are happy with the systems in operation do not contact us to commend us on the service we provide. We only really see things when issues have arisen and there are failings in the system, but there are many successes also.