To date a total of 80 work permits have been issued for the role of a dairy farm assistant in 2023, a spokesperson for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has said.
Most recent figures for the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector show that in total 892 work permits have been issued in the first four months this year.
While five dairy farm assistant work permits have been issued in May so far, four were issued in January; 23 in February; 30 in March; and 18 in April, department figures show.
The vast majority of work permits in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector were granted for the role of a meat operative which amounted to a total of 465 permits.
Of the permits issued to companies in the first four months of 2023, Dawn Meats received 72 permits; Kildare Chilling received 12; and Liffey Meats was granted 75 work permits.
Further work permits issued in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector, among others, include:
- Farm manager: 45;
- Veterinarians: 3;
- Nurses: 2;
- Quality assurance and regulatory professionals: 1;
- Butchers/meat deboner: 48;
- Work rider: 20;
- Chefs: 2.
Work permits
Changes to the employment permits system for workers from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to address skills shortages including in the dairy sector were announced in December 2022.
The quota of permits for the role of dairy farm assistants was increased by 500, based on a minimum yearly salary of €30,000 for a 39-hour week.
“Ireland’s employment permits system is designed to accommodate the arrival of non-EEA nationals to fill skills and labour gaps for the benefit of our economy, in the short to medium term.
“This objective must be balanced by the need to ensure that there are no suitably qualified Irish/EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one,” Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney said.
The department continues to actively respond to the concerns raised by various sectors with regard to the critical short supply of skills in a number of roles crucial to the economy, the minister added.