Statistics published by the Kilkenny-based travel and visa services company, VisaFirst.com, show that the number of work permits granted to non-EU overseas workers by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, have spiked in 2016 and are about one-third higher than last year. 
 
Just over 8,000 work permit of various categories have been issued to the end of October this year compared with a 6,100 at the same stage last year.

Four fifths of all permits issued this year are for new applicants while the balance are applications for renewals.

The country sending most workers here is India with close to 1,500 permits issued to its citizens in the first half of the year or close to 30% of the total.

Pakistan is the next highest, followed by the US, Sudan comes in fifth with more than 200 work permits issued to June.

The health sector continues to be the principal employer for people coming on work permits with the HSE topping the list with just over 1000 permits granted, but according to Edwina Shanahan, Managing Director of VisaFirst.com, key areas are looking for increasing numbers of permit, including the broad finance sector, construction and tech companies.

She said that after the Brexit vote there are "a lot of companies now who are looking at Ireland as a potential base and they are looking to see what skills sets they could relocate to Ireland," she told Breakfast Business.

Ms Shanahan added that backlogs of application have been forming and that the Department and that she believes they may need additional resources if this surge in applications continues.