More visas may be issued

Paramedics, accountants and financial services professionals from outside the European Union may benefit from an extension of the work visa system in a bid to meet labour shortages in the Irish economy.

The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, is considering extending the system but she has ruled out abandoning the work permit system for lower-skilled occupations in areas such as tourism and construction, where she says international experience suggests low-skilled employment "must remain job specific".

Ms Harney was speaking at the publication of the third annual labour market report of the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland, which shows that 26 per cent of businesses have recruited non-nationals in the past year compared with 14 per cent in 1999.

Earlier in the day, the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) called for the appointment of a regulator "to monitor and deal with agencies which are dealing with foreign labour".

The CIF estimates that 20,000 non-nationals will be needed to help complete the National Development Plan on target by 2006 and its director of business and manpower planning, Mr Peter McCabe, expressed concern that Irish contractors would not be disadvantaged by foreign firms bringing in cheap labour. Ms Harney said work permit applications were now coming in at the rate of 1,000 a week. There were 400 received last Tuesday alone. Some 14,500 permits were granted in the first four months of this year compared with 18,000 in the whole of last year.

Work permits must be sought by the employer and tie the worker to that particular employer for their duration, normally a year. Work visas can be sought by the prospective worker and can last for up to three years. They are restricted at present to nursing, certain construction professionals and IT specialists, and do not tie the worker to a particular employer.

The Chambers of Commerce report, Economic Immigration, was based on a survey of 510 member companies and is the most detailed study so far of the immigrant labour market. It calls for an urgent "revamping" of immigration legislation.

By far the biggest problems for non-nationals, according to employing firms, were in obtaining accommodation, opening bank accounts, accessing public utilities such as electricity and language barriers. Only a handful of employers listed racism as a problem - the figures were 1 per cent for nationals of the European Economic Area and 2 per cent for non-EU nationals.

Eighty-seven per cent of firms said they would recommend recruitment of non-nationals to other companies.