The Short Answer
Agency cover suits the shifts you cannot predict. A permanent chef on a work permit suits the gap you fill every week. If your hotel books an agency chef most weeks of the year, we would cost a permanent hire on a General Employment Permit against a year of agency invoices, one-off hiring costs included. If you book agency for a few busy weekends, the sum may not favour the permanent hire.
There is a catch before any sums. A work permit can only replace agency cover for roles DETE allows. In a hotel, that means the chef grades and, inside a small quota, hotel managers. Your agency kitchen assistants, waiting staff and housekeepers cannot be swapped for permit hires at all.
Correct as of 13 November 2026. The permit salary floor rises in stages under DETE's roadmap, and when a quota fills, DETE rejects applications still waiting to be processed. Get in touch and we will check the current position for your roles before you spend anything on the process.
Which Hotel Roles a Permit Can Fill
DETE's Ineligible Occupations List rules out these hotel roles. None of them can get a General Employment Permit:
- Kitchen and catering assistants
- Waiters and waitresses, and bar staff
- Receptionists
- Housekeepers, and cleaning and housekeeping supervisors
- Cleaners
- Cooks
Chefs are the exception that matters. The list excludes chefs as a group, then carves out five grades: executive, head and sous chefs with at least 5 years' experience, and chefs de partie (who run one section of the kitchen) and commis chefs (junior chefs) with at least 2 years'. The chef must work somewhere other than a fast food outlet.
Hotel and accommodation managers can also get a permit, but only inside a quota of 100 set by S.I. 213 of 2026, and only after a fresh 28-day advert. Our hospitality permits guide tracks where that quota stands.
So the comparison below is about chefs: agency chef cover against a permanent chef from overseas. For the roles on the list above, a permit is not an option.
What an Agency Chef Shift Is Made Of
The useful number is the rate on your own agency invoices. Before you read them, know what the rate has to cover.
Under the Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Act 2012, an agency worker must get equal treatment with workers the hirer employs directly on pay, overtime, night work and public holidays. An agency sous chef in your kitchen has to be paid at least what you would pay your own sous chef for the same work.
An agency chef may not know your menu or your head chef's standards, and the face on the pass can change from one weekend to the next.
Pull twelve months of agency invoices for kitchen cover, not three. If your kitchen is busier in summer than in winter, a short window will either flatter or overstate what agency really costs you. Split the hours by grade, so you are comparing a commis with a commis and a sous chef with a sous chef.
What a Permanent Permit Chef Costs
Pay is set by a legal floor. A chef on a General Employment Permit must earn at least €36,605 a year. DETE converts that over a 39-hour week, a working year of 2,028 hours, which comes to about €18.05 an hour. If you pay your commis or chef de partie less than that today, a permit hire at that grade will cost more than your current rate.
Two hotel habits do not count towards it. For a General Employment Permit, section 3 of the Employment Permits Act 2024 counts only salary and health insurance payments as remuneration. So a live-in room or staff meals cannot make up a shortfall. Our guide to housing overseas workers covers what you can still offer and how.
The one-off costs come before the first service:
- The DETE fee. €1,000 for a General Employment Permit from 6 months up to 24 months. If DETE refuses the application, 90% is refunded.
- The Labour Market Needs Test. The vacancy runs with the JobsIreland/EURES service and on one other online platform, each for at least 28 continuous days.
- Your recruitment fee, if an agency sources the chef and manages the permit.
Section 55 of the Employment Permits Act 2024 bars you from deducting permit, recruitment or travel costs you paid from the chef's wages, or recovering them any other way. Our full cost guide sets out the rest.
Comparing a Year of Each
A permanent chef is paid in January as well as July. That is the difference from agency cover, which you only pay when you book it. So compare a year, not a week:
- Agency side. Add up twelve months of agency invoices for the grade you want to fill.
- Permanent side. Take the chef's annual salary, add whatever else each employee costs you on top of pay, then add the one-off costs from the section above.
- Subtract. If the agency total is higher, the permanent chef is cheaper in year one.
If the agency total is lower, look at the quiet months. A hotel that books no agency chefs from November to March may be better served by a permanent hire for the core kitchen team and agency for the summer peak only.
The sum also misses a few things. A permanent chef can be trained into your menus, can cover breakfast one day and banqueting the next, and can be scheduled weeks ahead. A rota built on your own kitchen team does not depend on an agency finding someone for a Saturday wedding.
One cost to plan for: a General Employment Permit holder can change employer once nine months have passed since they started their first permit job in Ireland. A chef who leaves at month ten takes your one-off costs with them. Fair pay and decent rosters give a chef reasons to stay past that point.
Seasonal Peaks and the Wait
A permit hire is not a quick fix for next summer. DETE needs the application at least 12 weeks before the start date, and the advert has to run for 28 days before you can apply at all. Then the chef has to get here. Keep agency cover running until the chef's first shift. Our guide to hiring a chef from overseas sets out the full timeline.
The seasonal permit does not reach hotels. The Employment Permits Act 2024 created a Seasonal Employment Permit, but the 2025 pilot was open only to soft fruit and vegetable growers. DETE's 2027 scheme, opened for registrations in November 2026, is for the short-term 2027 picking season. For a hotel kitchen, the General Employment Permit is still the route.
The 50:50 rule caps how far you can go. When you apply, at least half your employees must be nationals of the EEA (the EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway), Switzerland or the UK, counted across the whole business. A hotel group with several permit holders already can hit this limit before the kitchen is fully staffed. Our guide to the 50:50 rule explains the count.
How CA Recruitment Helps
Send us a year of agency kitchen invoices and the grades you book. We will tell you which roles a permit can fill, compare the year for you, and say plainly if agency cover is still the cheaper answer. For the full hiring steps, read how to hire a chef from overseas, see our hospitality recruitment page, or book a free consultation.
Frequently asked questions
No. Kitchen and catering assistants, waiters and waitresses, bar staff, receptionists, housekeepers, housekeeping supervisors and cleaners are all on DETE's Ineligible Occupations List, so a hotel cannot get a General Employment Permit for those roles. The chef grades are the main exception: executive, head and sous chefs with at least 5 years' experience, and chefs de partie (who run one section of the kitchen) and commis chefs (junior chefs) with at least 2 years', working anywhere other than a fast food outlet.
€36,605 a year, the standard General Employment Permit minimum. DETE works out the hourly equivalent over a 39-hour week, which comes to about €18.05 an hour. Only basic salary and health insurance payments count towards it, so a staff room cannot make up a shortfall.
No. For a General Employment Permit, section 3 of the Employment Permits Act 2024 counts only salary and health insurance payments as remuneration. Board and accommodation count only for some other permit types, including the seasonal permit. A hotel can still offer a room, but the chef's basic pay has to reach €36,605 on its own.
It depends on how often you book. Agency cover has no upfront cost and you pay only for the shifts you book, so it suits a few busy weekends. By law an agency chef must get equal treatment on pay with a chef you hire directly. For a gap you fill most weeks of the year, compare a full year of agency invoices for the role with a year of permanent payroll plus the one-off hiring costs.
No. DETE's 2027 Seasonal Employment Permit scheme is for the short-term 2027 picking season, and the 2025 pilot was open only to soft fruit and vegetable growers. For a hotel, the General Employment Permit is the route, and only for eligible roles such as the chef grades.