The Government has announced changes to the work permit system in a bid to address skills shortages in the agriculture, transport and home care sectors.
Under the changes, dairy farm assistants, bus and coach drivers, and home carers from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) will now be eligible for employment permits.
The Government said the measures will help alleviate pressures being faced by farmers in the dairy sector who have struggled to source workers in the local economy.
In respect of home carers, the changes follow the establishment of a cross-departmental advisory group in March 2022 to examine strategic workforce challenges in publicly and privately provided frontline carer roles in home care and long-term residential care for older people.
The new measures will also establish a quota of 1,500 employment permits for bus and coach drivers to help address the recruitment challenges being faced by the transport sector.
"Our economic migration policy accommodates the arrival of non-EEA nationals to fill skills and labour gaps in the domestic economy in the short to medium term," said Damien English, Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail.
"Where shortages are clearly evidenced, the employment permit system is flexible enough to address these shortages in a timely manner," he added.
Employers will be eligible to apply for the employment permits once they have run the required advertisements for 28 days after today.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment says that the current processing time for employment permits is between three and five business days.
