New work permit will benefit 10,000

A Government scheme that will automatically grant work permits to the spouses of 10,000 non-nationals already employed here will also allow them to apply for jobs that are barred to ordinary work permit holders.

The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, yesterday announced details of the scheme. It will grant automatic work permits to the spouses of 10,000 non-nationals employed here in healthcare, IT, construction and research under special fast-track visas designed to ease bottlenecks in the labour market.

Currently, their spouses can live here, but they have no right to work without a permit, and no guarantee that they will get one. This has effectively barred many of them from moving to the Republic in the first place.

Announcing the measure yesterday, Ms Harney pointed out that non-nationals cannot get work permits for certain jobs in retailing and child-minding. "This restriction will not apply to the spouses intended to benefit from these new arrangements," she said.

Citizens from outside the EU and its associated European Economic Area (EEA) need permits to work in this country. Those from the EU and EEA have an automatic right to live and work here.

Normally, it is only possible to get a work permit if an employer has unsuccessfully advertised the job for at least four weeks. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment introduced the fast-track system four years ago to cope with specific labour shortages.

Under this, any non-EEA citizen skilled in one of the fields where there is a shortage, and who has an offer of a job in the Republic, can get their local Irish Embassy to stamp their passports with a work visa. The spouses' scheme is an extension of this.

The biggest single group to benefit will be the 5,000 nurses from outside the EU and EEA working in Irish hospitals. Many of them are from the Philippines, and a large number of them are married. Groups such as the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) have warned that these people will leave unless their spouses' status could be changed. Other countries, including the UK, allow their spouses to work.

The INO yesterday welcomed the automatic work permit plan. General Secretary Mr Liam Doran said the measure was long overdue and would assist in retaining some of the overseas nurses working in the Irish health system. "We expect that the new scheme will be operated in as flexible a manner as possible and we are calling for the details to be given the widest possible circulation within all hospitals," he said.