Major progress for technology visas

I am welcoming the 2,000 additional ICT graduates to be provided in the coming year. These graduates will be generated by harnessing home grown talent and by attracting highly valuable workers into the country. A a target of 700 employment permits has been set to allow for people from abroad who wish to work in Ireland in ICT. I have written extensively on the needs of the ICT sector including writing a report ‘A review of the ICT skills demand in Ireland’ which was released by the Jobs Committee.

This key move is part of the Government’s drive to make Ireland the Silicon Valley of Europe. The target of 700 additional employment permits in the ICT sector represents a 50% increase on the 1,366 of permits issued in respect of the ICT sector in 2012.

I have long campaigned for a technology visa structure to be put in place in order to attract highly skilled individuals to work in Ireland specifically in the ICT sector.

There will be a 33% decrease in typical processing times of these permits and a reduction in backlog from 5 weeks to 3 weeks by June 2013. This will result in a decrease in appeals due to better communications and processes.

There is an estimated 5,000 unfilled vacancies in this area in Ireland. We have a significant skills gap in this country and it is crucial that we stay ahead of the curve in developing this sector, there is a global shortage of these workers and Ireland needs to be the first to take advantage of this opportunity.

International research has shown that for every high-tech job created, a further 4-5 jobs are created elsewhere in the economy due to the knock on effect.

The further 1,300 graduates will be provided organically through the on-going positive shift in our education system for example the Conversion Programmes and Springboard ICT courses have been extremely successful.

These changes are part of Action Plan for Jobs 2013, and have the primary goal of providing Ireland with the highest proportion of ICT graduates as a share of third level graduates by 2018.

I am delighted that the many steps outlined in my report are now being taken and I would like to commend both Minister Bruton and Minister Quinn for their hard work in this area.