The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, has made the highest number of representations to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on behalf of employers for work permits for non-EEA nationals over the past year, according to information released under the Freedom of Information Act. The EEA is made up of the EU countries, plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
In all, 108 politicians made representations. The former Minister for Justice was given a new portfolio last month and made 41 representations to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on behalf of employers looking for work permits for foreign workers.
Work permits and visas are issued to employers seeking to bring in non-EEA workers.
Stricter procedures introduced in January last mean that employers now have to first advertise through FÁS for a minimum one-month period before they are eligible to apply for a permit for a foreign worker.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, made 22 representations for work permits and is third highest in the number of representations made by politicians from July 2001 to the end of June 2002.
A spokesman said Mr Ahern was "reflecting the number of requests from employers he had received".
These requests were not necessarily from employers in his Dublin Central constituency, the spokesman added.
Mr Robert Molloy, the former Progressive Democrat Galway West TD and minister of state, made 34 such representations. Munster MEP Mr Gerard Collins of Fianna Fáil made three representations.
The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, made 18 representations. Mr Micheál Martin, Ms Mary O'Rourke and Mr Seamus Brennan made 10 representations each, and Mr Noel Davern made 20.
A spokesman for Mr O'Donoghue said the level of representation would, as in the Taoiseach's case, reflect the level of requests by employers. However, "a certain number of correspondents were under the mistaken impression that in his capacity as minister with responsibility for immigration, and with a certain role in granting of visas, that he also had a responsibility for granting of work visas", the spokesman said.
They would therefore have asked Mr O'Donoghue to make representations for them, and he would have passed the request to the relevant authority.
SIPTU has called for a revision of the work permit scheme, asking that the permit be assigned to the employee rather than the employer.