Shannon Chamber

Lobbying Organisation Shannon Chamber

Date published 20 May, 2023

Relevant Matter Public policy or programme

Public Policy Area Employment

Period 1 Jan, 2023 to 30 Apr, 2023

Specific Details To address issues affecting Chamber member companies in attaining visas for new hires from non EEA countries, described as cumbersome and inefficient, adding significantly to companies’ talent acquisition costs.

Intended results Request for a meeting with the Minister of Justice and/or Department officials to address members' concerns.

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Helen Downes, Shannon Chamber CEO

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Letter (1)

A letter issued on 15 Feb 2023 to Minister Simon Harris requesting a meeting. This letter was forwarded to 6 local elected representatives to progress this request - Senator Timmy Dooley, Cathal Crowe TD, Violet-Anne Wynne TD, Senator Martin Conway, Kieran O'Donnell TD and Michael McNamara TD

Meeting (1)

Meeting on 15 March 2023 with Department of Justice Officials, William O’Dwyer, Head of Visa Division, Department of Justice and Jeffrey Ward, Visa Operations Manager, Department of Justice and Chamber member companies to discuss the issue.

Letter (1)

A follow-up letter to the meeting of 15 March 2023 was issued on 6 April 2023 to focus in on a specific area - Members applying for Atypical Work Scheme permissions (AWS) experiencing very high failure rates for, at least, the last 12 months. This letter was issued to Department officials listed in Activity 2 above and copied to Minister Simon Harris.

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Simon Harris Minister (Department of Justice)

Timmy Dooley Senator (Seanad)

Cathal Crowe TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Violet Anne Wynne TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Martin Conway Senator (Seanad)

Michael McNamara TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Kieran O'Donnell Minister of State (Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage)