Less than a quarter of 1,500 employment permits to allow non-EU bus and coach drivers work here to help tackle recruitment challenges in the sector have been issued.
Just 319 permits have been issued by the Department of Enterprise since January 2023, after establishing the quota.
The department said four permits had been refused and seven withdrawn, while more than 1,100 remain.
The quota was established in late 2022 by the department, which said that drivers must receive a minimum annual remuneration of €30,000 based on a 39-hour week, and must hold driving licence categories D, DE, D1 and D1E or the recognised equivalent.
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The Department of Transport said it engaged with the Department of Enterprise in 2022 in relation to work permits for bus drivers from non-EU and non-EEA Countries, and the possible inclusion of them on the “critical skills list due to the current driver shortages being experienced”.
It said that the level of take-up was “entirely dependent” on the prospective employees and the public transport operators themselves.
“Neither the Department of Transport or the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment are directly involved in the recruitment of drivers, whether EU or non-EU based,” it said.
Dermot O’Leary, general secretary of the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU), said there continues to be recruitment and retention problems for bus companies, in particular securing drivers around Cork, Limerick and Waterford.
Mr O’Leary acknowledged the situation had improved over recent months but pointed there would be increasing demand for drivers with continued roll-out of the BusConnects plan.
“The bus companies are competing with many other sectors in relation to recruiting and retaining people,” he said.
“At the end of the day, some people are saying to themselves ‘why would I go and become a bus driver, I have to do shift work and weekends for x and I can get around the same working elsewhere Monday to Friday and have more family time’.
“Akin to the Celtic Tiger, it is an employee’s market which does cause a knock-on effect, and weekend, evening and night work tend to suffer at a time when the economy is buoyant.”
Dublin Bus said it has recruited 419 drivers so far this year and on course to exceed the 457 bus drivers hired last year.
“We have an ongoing driver recruitment campaign for part-time and full-time drivers and we are also running female recruitment open days, to encourage more women to apply for bus driver positions,” it said.
Go-Ahead Ireland said its recruitment efforts across its business, including drivers, has been “ongoing and consistent.
“While we’ve experienced similar challenges to other operators across the transport sector, at the moment Go-Ahead Ireland is adequately staffed and growing,” a spokesman said.
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