Hauliers claim lifting cap on worker permits ‘is not the issue’

The State’s quota of work permits for non-EU drivers was not reached in recent years, before the Minister for State Damien English announced the cap would be lifted, it has emerged.

Hauliers, who are collectively seeking up 4,000 more drivers have criticised Mr English for announcing the lifting of the cap “as if it were a solution”, when not enough drivers were applying.

Hauliers said the problem with the scheme was the bureaucracy involved which had already seen some drivers going back to their home country.

Irish Road Haulage Association president Eugene Drennan said a driver coming to Ireland this week could not expect to get clearance from the Road Safety Authority to drive before December 23rd.

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He said a useful measure to implement would be to widen the hours during which container traffic could use Dublin Port. Dublin was an outlier with restricted opening hours he said, adding: “They should have a better service line to the customer and the customer should insist, because they have the power, that the port has to open up 14 hours a day”.

Among the barriers to non-EU drivers getting behind the wheel of a lorry in Ireland are: the need for a PPS number from the Department of Social Protection which hauliers claim can take weeks or months; the need to exchange their home country licence for an Irish one and secure a digital tachograph card in their own name.

One haulage company manager speaking to The Irish Times said his business had brought over six drivers from South Africa in June, but some had not yet been given a digital tachograph card, and as a result two of them had returned to South Africa.

‘Bureaucracy’

We have to put these people up, pay their air fare and feed them and they then go back to South Africa because the bureaucracy here is too much”, the haulier (speaking on condition of anonymity) said.

He proposed that drivers using new work permits be allowed to use print outs from the tachograph to confirm their conformance to regulations, until their digital cards are issues.

As an interim measure it would “get the lorries back on the road”, he said.

A spokesman for Mr English said it was the department’s role to ensure there were enough work permits, but it was the responsibility of other departments, to handle the regulations relating to each sector.

For example the Department of Enterprise would sanction work permits for agricultural workers but the Department of Agriculture would see to it that regulations in that sector were met.

The spokesman confirmed the number of non-EU drivers applying for work permits had not reached the quota in recent years. Lifting of the cap was a precautionary measure, he said.

The Road Safety Authority was asked for a comment on the amount of time it takes to issue a digital tachograph card but none was immediately received.

The Government has also announced changes to the employment permits system in a range of other sectors, including the agricultural sector.

IFA President Tim Cullinan said it was “positive to see some progress on this urgent issue”. He said there was “ an increasing demand for a skilled workforce on Irish farms, which is not satisfied within the EU. The dairy, horticulture, pig and poultry sectors have all been seriously impacted due to an insufficient supply of workers”.

IFA Dairy chairman Stephen Arthur acknowledged the introduction of 100 permits for dairy farm assistants but said it is not enough.

“We lobbied the Department for 500 permits. This is a positive first step upon which we can build, but the Minister will need to approve more for the busy spring season.” he said.

Bill Abom of the Migrants’ Rights Centre Ireland called on Mr English to amend the system, so that people on general employment permits are provided the same rights as those on critical skills permits.

“This would mean general employment permit holders would have the right to freely change employers after two years instead of five, which would enable them to better challenge exploitation. In addition, it would mean the equal right to have their immediate family with them in Ireland and the right for their family members to work” he said.