Venezuelan woman loses High Court challenge over job permit refusal

A woman has failed in a High Court challenge in which she claimed she was wrongly refused a job permit because her role as a trainee accountant was incorrectly categorised by the Minister for Business Enterprise and Innovation.

Venezuelan national Julia Olivera Rodriguez, who has a degree in public accounting from the South American country, came here in June 2017 on work permits which were extended until April 2019.

To regularise her situation, she obtained a certificate in business accounting here from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in May 2018.

In July, her employer Padraic O'Rafferty of O'Rafferty Accountants made an application on her behalf for another work permit for her as an "assistant accountant", but that was refused by the Minister.

She then made an application in her own name seeking a permit for the role of "trainee accountant" which was also refused.

She then brought High Court proceedings seeking to quash the decision.

It was argued, among other things, the Minister had erred in finding trainee accountant was on the list of ineligible categories for the purpose of the Employment Permit Regulations 2017.

She should have been categorised under a different code to the one applied by the Minister, it was claimed.

It was also argued that in the UK all those training for an occupation or profession are categorised under a similar standard occupational classification code.

The Minister said we do not adopt the UK classification system and variance of the regulations is used to manage the critical skills occupations list and the ineligible occupations lists in Ireland under which permits are granted.

A decision on whether to grant a permit is based on an assessment of the job title, duties associated with it and whether there is a labour and skills shortage for that role which cannot be filled by an Irish or EU/EEA national, it was also argued.

Mr Justice Mark Heslin, in a judgment published last week, said the regulations very clearly set out employments of which there is a shortage and which are required for the proper functioning of the economy.

These include accountants and tax consultants with particular specialisms and specified experience.

As a matter of fact, Ms Rodriguez "falls into none of these categories."

While she came from a troubled country, and appears to be someone who is both talented and motivated, it had to be emphasised the sole function of the court was to interpret the law with impartiality and objectivity and to produce a decision which does not encroach on the legislative power which is the sole preserve of the Oireachtas, he said.

He was satisfied there is nothing in the 2017 regulations which requires the Minister to be bound by any opinion or advice by any third party, be they outside or within this jurisdiction, when it comes to the question of determining whether a particular job description falls within those regulations.