Business leaders warn of workers shortage in NI under new UK immigration rules
The chief executive of Newry and Mourne Cooperative and Enterprise Agency (NMEA), Dr Conor Patterson has warned that crops will be not be harvested and patients will go without care because of the shortage of workers under proposed new immigration rules in the UK.
There is already a labour shortage in Northern Ireland with hundreds of vacancies in healthcare, hospitality, agriculture and manufacturing he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
These sectors already rely on thousands of workers who are continental European citizens.
“There is a demand for their labour.”
Dr Patterson described the new immigration rules as “very worrying” with no guarantee of how they are going to work in practice.
He pointed out that wages in Northern Ireland are significantly lower than in the remainder of the UK so the salary threshold in the new regulations will have a significant impact.
There is political consensus that “this just cannot work in Northern Ireland. There needs to be a special arrangement for Northern Ireland,” he said.
Dr Patterson also asked how the lower salary threshold will be policed and administered. He further expressed concern for how businesses are going to cope.
Micheál Briody, chief executive of cross-border company Silver Hill Foods said that there is already a labour shortage in the border region.
“We are looking for farm workers on our duck farms, but we are struggling to fill the spots.”
Previously Ukrainian workers would have filled many of these posts, he said.
Dr Patterson said that over the last 20 years an all-island labour market had emerged which was integrated. What was going to happen now, he asked.
