Hikes in the minimum salaries that must be offered from last month do not seem to have put employers off.

Demand for work permits has intensified since the economy hit full employment, according to the department in charge of issuing permits.

Nurses, healthcare assistants, chefs, computer programmers and doctors are among the top candidates sought.

A Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment spokesperson said last month was a particularly busy period for work permit applications. There was strong demand before the rollout of new higher salary thresholds for permit-holders last month.

The department received 5,366 permit applications last month, well ahead of the 2,554 applications made in the same month last year.

“Demand for employment permits remains strong across February 2024,” the spokesperson said.

“The minister is on record as stating that ‘as a result of effective full employment, demand on the employment permits system is very high’.

“In 2022, 40,000 permits were issued, and demand remains high with over 31,000 permits issued in 2023 to workers outside of the European Economic Area who are coming to Ireland to address the real skills shortages that are impacting businesses across the country.”

The number of permits issued has soared in the last decade from 3,863 in 2013 to just under 31,000 last year. Workers from India, the Philippines Brazil, Pakistan and China are among the main nationalities that have become crucial to the economy, according to official data.

Healthcare workers were the group in highest demand last year, overtaking staff in the ICT sector, where the highest portion of permits were issued the year before. Demand for permits was also high in accommodation and food services, financial services and agriculture. Just over 1,300 permits were issued in construction – a small fraction of the numbers that will be needed in the next decade, according to a recent report.

Most of the permits were issued to employers in Dublin, Cork, Kildare, Limerick, Galway and Meath.

Amazon, AIB, Google, Accenture, the University of Limerick Hospitals Group, NCT operator Applus and TikTok were among the employers seeking large numbers of workers from abroad.

Colm Hilliard, director of Work Permits Ireland, which helps employers and organisations apply for permits, said: “There is a serious skills shortage, obviously as we had one minister, Simon Harris, looking to offer Irish diaspora in construction a monetary incentive to come back to Ireland.”

He said some small businesses will have difficulty with the increased rates of pay and a second salary hike planned in January next year could impact applications.

“Although I don’t see any evidence of this, as all of our employers are continuing with the process,” he said.

The majority of employers, he said, pay the minimum rates, but these are vastly better than pay in the Philippines, for example, where tradesmen in their mid-40s could buy a home, a few acres of land and machinery to run a business after working here for two years.

However, some employers, particularly larger hotel groups, will pay more, he said, if a chef had extensive experience, for example.

In December, junior minister Neale Richmond announced the largest-ever expansion of the employment permits system due to high demand. Minimum salary requirements will rise by up to €7,000 in the shake-up and there were 43 changes to the jobs eligible for a permit.

The salary requirement for most general employment permit-holders rose from €30,000 to €34,000 last month, while healthcare assistants and meat processing workers’ minimum pay rose from €22,000 to €30,000. The new threshold – which is available to existing permit-holders when their permit is renewed – enables these workers to qualify for family reunification.

Mr Hilliard believes roles within HR and finance administration, including accountants’ assistants, should have been among the expanded list of roles eligible for permits.

Quotas for vehicle body builders and repairers, panel beaters, car mechanics or HGV or bus mechanics should have been set higher, at around 500,” he said.

“There is a shortage of skills, and we don’t have the people here in Ireland, Irish or EU, available to work in areas such as hospitality or agriculture. I do think we will see an increase in the number of applications this year.”

Adrian Cummins, chief executive officer of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, said it could take a few weeks to get a work permit, but up to 10 months for visas, which are also required.

“The work permit system is fine, but the visa system is broken,” he said. “You should be able to apply all in one go. Surely it can’t be rocket science. Then there is a shortage of accommodation for them when they come in. The increase in salary will be another issue for business to contend with.”

A department spokesperson said it is co-operating with the Department of Justice as part of an inter-departmental working group to develop a single application procedure for permits and immigration permissions.

Currently, a person from outside the European Economic Area must first make an application to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment for an employment permit, and then make a second application to the Department of Justice for an immigration permission,” the spokesperson said.

“Both of these applications are also subject to consideration of separate processes and this initiative aims to address that separation of responsibilities.”

They said “further staff resources” have been assigned to ensure the efficient delivery of the permit system “in the face of continued high demand”.