Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I move:

That Dáil Éireann approves the exercise by the State of the option or discretion under Protocol No. 21 on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, to take part in the adoption and application of the following proposed measure: Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council Establishing an EU Talent Pool, a copy of which was laid before Dáil Éireann on 14th December, 2023.

I am speaking today to seek Dáil Éireann approval to opt in to a proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and the Council establishing an EU talent pool. This proposal has a Title V legal basis in the area of freedom, security and justice. This means that Ireland has the right to decide whether to opt in to this measure under Protocol No. 21 to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The three-month time period for an opt-in to the proposal, under Article 3 of the protocol, expires on 6 March.

This proposal relates to the establishment of an EU talent pool, a web portal that will facilitate the matching of job vacancies of EU-based employers with the profiles of jobseekers from third countries. We in Ireland are blessed to have effective full employment. More than 2.7 million people are at work across the country. Whoever wants a job can have a job. However, in practice, this means that many employers cannot find staff to fill a vacancy. The skills shortage across Ireland and the EU is having a major impact on these businesses and the functioning of the State. Our work permit system allows us to bring workers into Ireland from outside the EU and the wider European Economic Area to work in certain roles in which we have a critical skills shortage, both here in Ireland and across the European Union. The talent pool will help employers to access these workers by reducing barriers to international recruitment for EU employers and promote legal pathways and opportunities for jobseekers from third countries who have the skills required to work in occupations for which there is an EU-wide shortage.

Last year, my Department issued almost 31,000 work permits to staff in a wide variety of sectors, including more than 1,600 doctors, 4,300 nurses and 3,700 healthcare assistants, all working to care for our most vulnerable, 500 engineers, 120 welders and almost 200 carpenters and joiners. These workers are filling the roles we badly need in Ireland. Bringing these workers into Ireland is not only good for our businesses, which so badly need the staff to grow and continue to hire and expand, but it is good for our society. It is good for our hospitals, which need staff, our housebuilding and infrastructure, and our communities and society. Helping these employers to access this staff while we work at home to build our local talent pool through increasing apprenticeships and college places, as well as reskilling and upskilling courses for existing workers, will make a big difference to employers in the wider economy.

Opting in to the EU talent pool regulation would support Ireland's efforts for greater strategic alignment with the EU on migration policy and help foster an ambitious and sustainable EU legal migration policy, attracting the talent we need to our labour markets. For example, the talent pool could potentially enable a skilled nurse from India to be matched with essential vacancies in hospitals in Tralee or Drogheda to improve care. Ireland and other EU member states face similar demographic pressures, with declining birth rates, ageing populations and an ongoing decline in the ratio of the working age population to those who have retired. Facilitating the recruitment of skilled workers will support us in addressing this demographic challenge and bolster our economy.

The EU talent pool is an important aspect of the EU's new skills and talent mobility package which aims to make the EU more attractive to workers from third countries and will further support our economic needs. Participation in the talent pool is voluntary and by opting in, Ireland is not committing to participation in the talent pool itself. This can be decided at a later date based on the merits and value for money of the talent pool. This can be ascertained once it is in operation, which is likely to be in 2028. However, opting in at the outset would allow Ireland to vote on adoption of the measure by the Council as well to fully participate in negotiation and eventual implementation of the measure, if we decide to do so.

The EU talent pool will enable employers to advertise vacancies to attract workers from third countries. Third country jobseekers will be able to search for jobs that match their skills, filtering by country, language, experience required and other criteria. It complements the European employment services, EURES, platform, which facilitates the recruitment of EU-based workers with EU-based employers by broadening the scope to apply to workers outside the EU. It is intended that both of these systems will be interoperable. Jobs may only be advertised on the EU talent pool if those roles cannot be filled within the EEA. The EU talent pool includes an initial list of 42 occupations where there are shortages of skills within the EU, including specialist medical practitioners, software developers, chemical engineers, cooks, waiters and roofers. The list of occupations will be regularly reviewed and Ireland will have the freedom to add remove occupations based on our own labour market needs.

If Ireland were to choose to use the talent pool, only occupations eligible for a critical skills or general employment permit would be able to be advertised on the platform, provided all other criteria such as a labour market needs test are met. The EU talent pool will primarily facilitate the offer of a job, which is an essential prerequisite in order to apply for an employment permit and immigration permission. All of the criteria required for third country nationals to access the Irish labour market would also need to be met, such as minimum salary thresholds end adherence to the 50:50 rule, in which over 50% of the workforce in the company or organisation must be EU citizens. This approach is additional to, and will not supersede, existing measures to reskill and upskill Irish and EU citizens.

The European Commission has estimated that the talent pool initiative will have a positive impact on EU GDP of up €4.2 billion generated by additional wages, with 20 member states participating until 2030.

On wider measures in the EU skills and talent package, Ireland has also engaged in negotiations on the proposal for a recast single permit directive, which would unify application processes for employment permits and for residence purposes. Currently, to work in Ireland, a person from outside the EEA has to first make an application for an employment permit and then make a second application for immigration permission. The single permit directive would unify the issue of a single employment and residence permission reducing the burden on applicants and in processing applications. The Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, intends to bring a memorandum to the Government, with the Minister, Deputy Coveney, on this issue very shortly.

Ireland is also engaged in discussion at EU level on the related and complementary EU talent partnership initiative, another part of the EU's new skills and talent mobility package. This is also intended to match the skills of workers from specific non-EU countries with labour market needs inside the EU. Talent partnerships are a series of agreements that are being negotiated with certain third countries, which currently include Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh, where there are clear skills and an abundance of excess skills that would be very complementary to what we need in Ireland. Like the EU talent pool, the talent partnership initiative is voluntary, with agreements formulated bilaterally between a member state and a third country, with support from the Commission to maximise economies of scale. Unlike the EU talent pool, the talent partnership initiative does not have a legislative basis and, therefore, does not require Ireland to opt in.

The Government is closely following the development of these partnerships with other member states and is examining their potential use, particularly to facilitate seasonal and short-term work patterns. Opting into the talent pool regulation would demonstrate that Ireland supports an ambitious and sustainable EU legal migration policy for attracting talent to our labour markets and creating safe and legal pathways to reach Europe. It would also support Ireland's efforts to ensure greater strategic alignment with the rest of the EU on migration. There is no legal or practical impediment to Ireland opting into this proposal and no cost will be incurred unless Ireland decides to participate in the talent pool once it is operational in 2028.

I commend the proposal that Ireland exercise its opt-in to this measure to the House. I thank the Deputies present for their consideration of this matter. I sincerely hope we see it approved in due course.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Does the Minister of State have cóip den oráid, a copy of the speech? Perhaps he would have it sent to us.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Gabh mo leithscéal. I thought it had been sent over.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Is féidir linn bogadh ar aghaidh anois go dtí Sinn Féin. An bhfuil an Teachta Pa Daly ag roinnt a chuid ama leis an Teachta Louise O'Reilly?

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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Níl mé á roinnt. Tá an Teachta O’Reilly ag déileáil leis an reachtaíocht ina dhiaidh sin.

It is interesting what the Minister of State said on the 32,000 work permits that were given last year. I understand it was much higher than that the year before. It is interesting to take that into account when considering the number of applications to the international protection accommodation services, IPAS. Far more people are coming in through work permits and, as the Minister of State said, they are going to work in hospitals, not only in Tralee but throughout the State. They are the people who are staffing our nursing homes, which is a welcome development because we need these people to do the essential work in our community.

The Minister of State mentioned the memo that is being prepared for Cabinet. I am not sure whether he is aware that I tabled a parliamentary question a few weeks ago on that. The reply I received was:

While Ireland has not yet opted-into most of the [asylum migration] Pact measures, with the exception of the European Union Asylum Agency Regulation, other Member States will be bound by them two years after they are adopted. Member States are beginning to prepare their transposing legislation ... for the Pact to go live in 2026. In order ... to implement a more cohesive migration system ... I intend to bring a Memorandum to cabinet [to] opt in to the Pact ...

The Minister of State said that will happen "soon". Does he have any idea when exactly that will be?

This debate is interesting as it showcases the rules-based immigration system, with a clear criteria for those allowed to enter the State. We welcome that, primarily for the reasons I outlined relating to the work that migrants are doing in this country. Sinn Féin's stance is clear; we need to have a migration and asylum system that is firm, fair and enforced, and the contributions migrants make on this island recognised. Our stance is also that Ireland needs to retain subsidiarity on decision-making insofar as it is possible. Nowhere is that more important than with respect to education, the jobs market and immigration. Nowhere are the contributions of migrants more important or more vital than in the area of critical skills. We need to do what we can through the education system to, in the first instance, upskill those living here to fill skilled and semi-skilled roles. In most instances, young people are educated and trained here and then go to see other countries, which have more wages to offer them and where there is cheaper housing, higher wages or both. That is no doubt a factor that is taken into account by the migrants who come to the State. This is a product of policies pursued by the Government.

There is a lot of emigration and immigration, but the record high number of visas granted for Australia tell a tale. Many of our young people, once they are educated, seek to leave because establishing any sort of future in this State is becoming more and more difficult. It is quite depressing in some rural areas, especially in the county where I live, to see the number of younger, trained, professional people, and those with trades, who are leaving the country in their droves. The Government can play politics with the statistics all they like, but it is out of touch not to acknowledge the experience of migration in communities. That is not to say that with a better outlook we would be able to meet the demand for skilled workers through our own education system. There is a place for skilled migrants, especially in a world where capital and opportunities flow easily across borders. In this context, where the EU has a series of external and internal borders, as well as multiple educational and training systems, some common recognition across these borders is important. That the scheme is voluntary, and is aimed at meeting labour needs and improving Europe's ability to attract sought-after skills, as well as being comparatively cheap, is also crucial.

Two important transformations were mentioned in the briefing paper we received, namely, a transition to net-zero emissions and to digital. We understand the meaning of the first and are all agreed on the requirement to decarbonise but the transformation to digital begs a wider question about what this means and what role critical skills will have within it. In examining the Commission's information on the scheme, I was unable to find out exactly what is meant by this.

Another area where there are more clear requirements is within hospitality, food, tourism and accommodation. It goes without saying that County Kerry is economically dependent on the industries of food, tourism and accommodation. This was confirmed by yesterday's GeoDirectory Commercial Buildings Report, which stated that Kerry has the most premises dedicated to these industries in the entire State at 24% of all commercial lets and units in the county. The vacancy rates in Tralee and Listowel, however, are nearly double the rates in other parts of the county. The presence of so much vacancy shows the lack of effect of the Government's town centre first plan, which is part of the programme for Government. The rates of vacancy in Tralee and Listowel, for example, are equivalent to those in the counties that appear as worst in the GeoDirectory report.

Town centres need to be prioritised. Certain services, such as Tralee courthouse, should not be removed from the centres of towns and the council in Kerry needs to work proactively with State organisations and the HSE, not only to keep services in town centres, but to encourage more people in by talking and working proactively with the HSE, for example. If the HSE has a unit and wants to move somewhere, why not move it into a town centre? Great work was done with the ETB in County Kerry to move offices into the centre of town, with a resulting benefit to shops, cafés and restaurants in and around the town centre. In a public sector town, such as Tralee, it is incumbent on the public sector to have the town centre first in mind when seeking to open new units. We have a site in Tralee, the Denny's site, which was granted by Kerry Group to the old Tralee town council but, ten years on, absolutely nothing has been put in apart from a nice garden, while the council and the Courts Service work together to move the courtrooms from one side of the town centre to the other.

In addition, property owners cannot be allowed to sit on vacant properties for years. The dereliction in town centres throughout the country is contributed to by the fact that no extra rate, or no rate at all, is levied on buildings and owners of buildings when the building is technically for sale, often for years, but allowed to lie vacant.

On the issue of the common good of town centres, if we are to have a serious town centre first policy, then the Government should be proactively levying a rate to punish, or at least penalise, owners for leaving their properties vacant and bringing down the appearance of the town centre.

This matter obviously ties back in with proposals for the talent pool. Businesses in County Kerry struggle to find skilled staff to work in their premises, including chefs, front-of-house staff and sommeliers, all of whom are currently needed. A pilot scheme for the talent pool currently operates in certain countries and some member states. The professions that will be recruited through the pool are supposed to be guided by an analysis of the areas where the EU, as a whole, is lacking in skills. This is where subsidiarity is important. The interaction between this proposal and the forthcoming migration pact is also important.

As I said before, it is important that Ireland retains subsidiarity as much as possible, especially given our labour market needs will be different to other member states and the EU as a whole. We especially need more details on the single permit directive. There may be assurances that member states will retain autonomy over how many third-country workers each state can admit but the journey towards having a single permission for employment and residence does need to be carefully monitored. When can we expect to see the memo the Minister of State mentioned?

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I will wait for a minute before the Minister of State concludes because some speakers were in the Chamber and left, having assumed other speakers were going to come in.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Of course.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I do not see any Members rushing into the debate, so I call the Minister of State to conclude.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I do not know if this would be within the rules of the House but I am more than happy to give way if any Members do happen to come in. There is some time left on this debate. This is an important debate and if someone is rushing up from a committee room, and this is in the gift of the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, of course, but my colleagues and I are more than happy to be flexible.

I appreciate the debate and the contribution Deputy Daly made in this regard. To address the points he raised in his questions, concerning the memos, the single permit directive and bringing the portal to Government, we intend to do that by the end of March 2024. I am very grateful for the Deputy's contribution. I am fairly sure, if not entirely sure, that he set out that Sinn Féin would be supportive of this proposal. I am very grateful for that.

We then heard eight more minutes of a speech, though, and I would just like to take up the points the Deputy made during that time. I will address one or two things the Deputy said. He accused the Government of often twisting statistics and of doing so to suit a narrative. I thought this was a little bit rich when Deputy Daly then said thousands and thousands of Irish people are applying for visas to go to Australia. He forgot, though, to add the clarity that there is, of course, a backlog because people could not get into Australia for nearly three years. Additionally, the criteria for entry have been extended. Anyone up to the age of 35, therefore, is now eligible to apply for these visas. This is allowing thousands more people to have this opportunity to go to Oz for a couple of years to experience everything there is in that country. Of course, what the Deputy failed to mention, and this is consistently done by his colleagues in this House and in the other House, is that we know average rent costs in Sydney and Melbourne are way higher than here. Anyone who saw on social media last week130 people queuing for a one-bed apartment in Sydney, should know it is not just all doom and gloom here, which is the picture being painted by the Deputy.

Ultimately, the Deputy and I, and I would actually argue everyone in this Chamber, knows well what it was like to grow up in an Ireland where nobody wanted to come to live. We did not have large-scale immigration. People did not want to come here because we did not have the economy, the society or the infrastructure to attract them. This situation has now changed and changed for the better. As I mentioned at the outset, I issued work permits last year for just under 31,000 people from outside the European Economic Area, more than 26,000 from within the EU and 5,000 people from Great Britain. All those people moved here, and they did so because there are good jobs and good lives to be found here. We do, absolutely, have major challenges in our society and no one runs from them. We are, though, addressing them. I refer to building more than 32,500 homes last year and putting record levels of money into town and village renewal schemes across the country to enhance the public realm and encourage business in towns.

People can shake their heads, but we must be accurate. One statistic people often charge the Government with is that everyone is running away to Australia. What they ignore, do not like, try to twist and shrug their shoulders about - this happened again in the Senate last night - is the fact that, ultimately, over the past three years, more Irish people who had emigrated moved home to Ireland than the number who left the country. We have had record levels of net immigration since we have opened inward migration post-Covid. Prior to that, we also had net inward migration. People want to come here to work and to live. People also want to come here to seek refuge from awful situations around the world, and they too are very welcome.

I refer to this notion that loads of people are coming here because we cannot find labour due to everyone emigrating. This is a false narrative and it must be called out. Sinn Féin is getting nowhere constantly making this argument because it rings hollow when the statistics do not back it up. Ultimately, we have a labour crisis across the European Union. I sit around a European Council table every six weeks, and on every topic, the representatives of every member state say there is a problem with getting people to work. There are demographic changes. We have had a rip-roaring economy in recent years that has seen a record intake of people into employment. We have 2.7 million people at work in this country, a figure greater than our entire population in the 1950s. People are not coming here to replace people who are leaving. People are coming here because we are a country that is in the top ten in every single positive index in the world, including in terms of freedom of the press, despite lawsuits by many political people.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister of State says that is why.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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No. These are important points the Deputy's party will never mention. It is trying to make out that everyone is leaving and that this is why everyone is leaving, when it is simply not the case. Ultimately, I do hope Sinn Féin will be supportive of this proposal. I answered the two questions posed in this regard, and I said we hope to bring the memo to Cabinet by the end of March. I hope, therefore, that Sinn Féin will support this proposal and will continue to support a robust, fair and progressive immigration system, one that will consistently see people want to come here because this is a great country in which to live and work. There is no point running it down with false statistics when they cannot be backed up. Go raibh maith agat.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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I did not mention rents.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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We are about to conclude the debate, but if the House agrees, I will let Deputy Shanahan contribute, although the Minister of State will not be coming back in to reply . The Deputy is, however, welcome to make a contribution.

Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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I will not delay the House. I will just make a few observations. If there is an opportunity for Ireland to opt into this process and have some influence on it, then that is what we should do. The Minister of State himself pointed out that we have been issuing 31,000 work permits. I think he will be aware of what I am going to say, but changes in the work permit scheme are coming and these will result in a rise in the base rate of pay. I have a concern about this aspect in terms of how work permits are working for all sectors of the economy. I understand that we want to arrive at a situation where we will have a reasonable minimum wage, one that provides a living wage for people. We need to do this. However, we must also remain competitive. In fact, just because people are coming in on the lowest level in the context of work permits, this does not mean that is all they are getting paid. People are getting bonuses and getting overtime as well. We must, therefore, examine this issue in a sectoral context.

Equally, if this proposal is worked out and signed up to, as I understand it, this would offer Irish people the opportunity to go and work in another EU country. I understand, however, that its main drive is to allow people from third countries to access EU markets. This is probably something reflective of the Australian points system used years ago for those seeking to access work in that country. I will point out to the Minister of State, however, and I am sure he has received this type of communication himself, that we have a significant number of people who are already here and qualified. Some of these people are even qualified in medicine and in law, but cannot get registration approval here.

It is terrible to think that people like doctors and senior specialist nurses, some of whom I have met, who are college educated are doing catering jobs because we have not found a pathway for them to get authorised to work at their qualified level. We should be doing that first.

It will not be news to the Minister of State that our housing shortage is a significant impediment to bringing the skills we need into the country and also being able to offer people a pathway into housing and homeownership. That applies to our own people, some of whom are migrating because they feel they will not be able to get on the property ladder. While we are full employment, recent CSO data for the south-east region show that the job quality is not what it is in other regions. It is performing more poorly. That could be improved if we could get better sustainable housing and higher class jobs. They are all part of the difficulties we have in the economy at present.

If we have a way to solve some of the problems we need to solve in providing skills to our economy, which is at full employment, we should certainly look at that. We should opt in and then figure out if we can look at the policy if it is a good idea. At the same time, it should not be a slam dunk that we agree to opt in to this directive whenever it is done. We should take a cautious look at it.