Dublin has welcomed the first arrivals of people taking part in a new EU programme for skilled refugees.
The Displaced Talent for Europe (DT4E) initiative aims to provide opportunities for skilled refugees and displaced people who have the professional experience needed to fill the current talent shortages faced by Irish and European employers.
The initiative has seen three individuals arrive in Dublin to join the Irish healthcare and telecommunications industries as cybersecurity/IT professionals and network field technician/engineers.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) and the telecommunications company Entegro have become the first employers to hire displaced individuals under the programme.
“We are very pleased to be the first Irish employer to recruit through the DT4E programme which has given us access to a new talent pool of highly skilled professionals,” said Joyce Shaw, Chief of Staff at HSE eHealth.
“Our new employees will take up vital roles in the HSE’s eHealth Division and we are looking forward to welcoming them to the team,” Ms Shaw said.
Entegro said it was delighted to be part of the scheme.
“Hiring through DT4E has worked like standard international recruitment and has allowed us to fill vacancies while also giving our new employees a chance to build a new future in Ireland,” said Anita Walsh, Head of People and Talent at Entegro.
A second group of arrivals is due in Ireland in the coming weeks.
The programme is supported by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment which issues employment permits and the Department of Justice which is responsible for visa processing and immigration.
“My Department supports this programme because we know the skills and talent that people who come here under this programme can bring to Ireland and how these can help us plug gaps in key employment areas while also helping the participants build a sustainable future,” said Minister for Justice Helen McEntee.
The DT4E programme is funded by the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) which connects skilled professionals in need of international protection based in Jordan and Lebanon with employers in Ireland, Belgium, Portugal and the UK through a labour mobility scheme that is led by skills shortages and driven by employers’ needs.
The scheme is led by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and implemented with Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB), Fragomen, Fedasil, AIMA and other partners.
