Workers from outside the EEA play an important role in meeting Ireland’s labour and skills needs, new ESRI research finds

In each of the last four years, between 30,000–40,000 employment permits have been issued or renewed to non-EEA workers. These permits are granted to certain non-EEA nationals where employers struggle to find suitable Irish or EEA workers to fill vacant posts. Critical Skills Employment Permits are issued to workers who are highly skilled and/or in particularly high demand, while General Employment Permits may be issued in most occupations following a labour market needs test. Worker shortages currently affect Ireland’s health, social care, construction, ICT, agri-food, and transportation sectors, among others.

This new European Migration Network (EMN) Ireland research report, published by the ESRI (co-funded by the European Union and the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration), examines trends in employment permits issued, recent legislative changes, and challenges faced by employers and migrant workers when navigating non-EEA recruitment.

The number of employment permits issued or renewed has more than doubled since 2021, following several policy changes that made it easier for Irish employers to recruit non-EEA workers. The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment expanded the list of eligible occupations across healthcare and construction, reflecting persistent difficulties in finding suitable workers for these areas domestically. The Employment Permits Act 2024 further modernised and expanded this system by digitalising most processes, introducing additional safeguards, and adding a new seasonal employment permit, currently in its pilot phase in the horticulture sector.

Key findings:

• The health and social care sector accounted for the largest share of employment permits in 2025, at 26%. This was followed by information and communication activities at 12% and accommodation and food services at 11%. Compared to 2021, non-EEA recruitment is being used by a broader range of sectors and at a larger scale: the construction sector, for instance, almost doubled its share to 6%.

• Indian nationals accounted for the largest share of employment permits (32%), followed by Brazilian and Philippine nationals at 11% each. These trends are largely consistent with previous years.

• A total of 8,328 companies recruited non-EEA workers in 2025, with over half sponsoring just a single employment permit. This suggests that recruitment through the employment permit system is being used even when employers recruit only a few non-EEA workers.

• For the first time since 2016, slightly more General Employment Permits than Critical Skills Employment Permits were issued in 2024, highlighting the growing share of low- and medium-skilled migrant workers needed by employers in Ireland.

Stakeholders consulted for this research identified several good practices, including:

• A new change of employer provision that grants migrant workers greater job flexibility after nine months on their initial employment permit.

• A Reactivation Employment Permit that allows holders to legally re-enter the labour market where they have lost their job due to redundancy or labour exploitation.

• Immediate labour market access that benefits certain family members of General Employment Permit holders as of 2024 and 2025.

Challenges include:

• Some employment permit holders, especially lower-skilled workers, experience mistreatment and labour exploitation. Improving rights awareness and increasing the number of inspectors at the Workplace Relations Commission could help address this.

• Retention rates are low across employment permit holder groups, especially for critical skills workers, many of whom leave Ireland after a few years.

• Migrants face difficulties in having non-EU qualifications recognised, especially in regulated professions such as doctors, nurses, teachers, and engineers.

Ada Sophia Hahn, an author of the report said:

"The strong uptake in employment permits shows the growing importance of non-EEA migrant workers in meeting Ireland’s demand for labour across healthcare, construction and ICT services.

Ensuring that the employment permit system is effective and fair matters not only to employers and migrant workers, but also to Irish society at large as it could impact the delivery of public services. Consistently low retention rates would be a concern, as it could undermine the effectiveness of the employment permit system."