Non-EU workers issued employment permits to meet Ireland’s skills shortage — report 

The health and social care sector accounted for the largest share of employment permits in 2025, at 26%.

Ireland’s labour and skills shortage is being met by workers from outside the European Economic Area, according to a report published on Tuesday.

However, the European Migration Network (EMN) Ireland research report raises concerns the shortage of affordable housing in Ireland could discourage some workers from choosing to remain here in the long term, with 40% of those who obtain critical skills permits to work here leaving again within two years.

Between 30,000 and 40,000 employment permits have been issued or renewed to workers from outside the European Economic Area in the last four years, according to the report.

Such permits are granted where employers find it difficult to find either workers from Ireland or within the European Economic Area to fill posts in a number of areas, including the health, social care, construction, ICT, agri-food, and transportation sectors.

The report has been published by the Economic and Social Research Institute and is co-funded by the European Union and the Department of Justice.

It found:

• The health and social care sector accounted for the largest share of employment permits in 2025 (26%), followed by information and communication activities (12%) and accommodation and food services (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;

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

The report found 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".

Workers who are granted Critical Skills Employment Permits 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, according to the report.

It also said: “Many challenges identified by stakeholders related to the poor working conditions or insufficient safeguards of employment permit holders. NGOs and trade unions reported on a high incidence rate of exploitation mainly, but not exclusively, among General EP holders.

The most common forms of mistreatment cited were unpaid wages, inadequate provision of accommodation, or workers being forced to work excessive hours, not given adequate breaks, or subjected to discrimination and unfair treatment.

The report concluded: “High levels of turnover and subsequent emigration may limit the extent to which foreign recruitment provides a sustainable response to our workforce shortages. Yet comprehensive and reliable data in this field are scarce, undermining any analysis of how existing policies and structural conditions influence employment permit holders’ decision to stay.

"A better understanding of migrant workers’ retention intentions and the factors shaping them may be needed to better assess the effectiveness of economic migration policing in addressing Irish labour and skills shortages.”