449. Deputy David Maxwell asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment if he will undertake a review of the critical skills occupations list to ensure it accurately reflects current labour market shortages. [14555/26]

A comprehensive review of the occupation lists is currently under way. This process began with an eight-week open public consultation, which closed on 19 September last year. I’m pleased to say we received the highest number of submissions of any review to date, a clear signal of how engaged stakeholders are with the future shape of our skills and migration system.

Over the past number of months, my Department has worked closely with the relevant lead Departments to carefully examine the evidence and insights submitted across various sectors. The Interdepartmental Group was convened in December and considered the available labour-market evidence and relevant departmental inputs and sectoral perspectives.

We are now in the closing stages of concluding this review. My Department is working through the final details, and I expect to publish the updated occupation lists in the coming weeks. This will ensure our employment permits system continues to respond to Ireland’s evolving labour market needs in a fair, evidence-based and future-focused way.