171 Deputy Michael Ring asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the decision on a work permit application in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Mayo and when the application was made. [4891/09]

An application in respect of the above named was received in the Employment Permits Section on the 7/1/2009. This application was refused on the grounds it is current Government policy to issue new work permits for highly skilled, highly paid positions or for non-EEA nationals who are already legally resident in the State on valid employment permits or where there is an officially recognised scarcity of workers of a particular type or qualification. Furthermore, newspaper advertisements for 3 days in both local and national newspapers were not submitted in support of the application. Also, the information supplied with the application appeared to indicate that the prospective employee's qualifications/experience did not correspond to the position on offer.

The applicant was notified of this decision in writing by letter dated 29/1/2009 and of their right to appeal within 21 days. To-date no such appeal has been received in the Employment Permits Section.

172 Deputy Noel O’Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of work permits sought and granted or refused in 2008 by non-EU nationals, or prospective employers; the type of job vacancies for which they applied; the number of work permits that are in current use in the State for all categories of work and would she list the categories and the number of permits in each category; the current policy on issuing work permits to non nationals in view of the high unemployment rate among Irish and EU nationals living in this State; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4895/09]

Since 2004, Irish labour market policy has been to ensure that general labour and skills needs are met from within the workforce of the European Union. For strategic skills/labour shortages in designated occupations in key economic sectors such as healthcare, information technology and financial services, Government policy is to issue employment permits for the employment of non-EEA nationals for specific vacancies and in response to employer demand. The various schemes that give effect to such policies were introduced under the Employment Permits Act, 2006.

Given that our current employment permit arrangements were designed to be vacancy-driven, the numbers of permit applications and consequent numbers of permits issued over the last six months have been showing a consistent downward trend.

I am currently having our employment permit arrangements reviewed to ensure their ongoing relevance to the needs of the Irish labour market.

The numbers of work permits sought and granted or refused in 2008, and the total numbers of work permits that are in current use in the State, for all categories of employment, are set out in a number of tables.