In short: Cavan employers received 501 employment permits in 2025, 61% more than the 312 they received in 2023. Over those two years only Monaghan and Leitrim grew faster. Most of the jump came in 2024, when the county's total rose by 84%. CA Recruitment is a WRC-licensed employment agency (Licence No. EA 5444) that recruits outside the EEA, mainly in the Philippines, and manages the DETE permit for the employer. We are based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, and have no office in Cavan.
Checked on 12 October 2026. Salary floors, permit fees and occupation quotas are set by DETE and change during the year, and a quota can close with a single notice. Contact us and we will check where your role stands on the day you ask, before you spend anything.
Cavan's permits jumped in 2024 and mostly held
These are Cavan's lines from DETE's permits by county tables:
| Year | Permits issued, Cavan | Refused, Cavan | Cavan refusal rate | National refusal rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 312 | 18 | 5.5% | 4.8% |
| 2024 | 573 | 27 | 4.5% | 5.9% |
| 2025 | 501 | 56 | 10.1% | 10.0% |
In 2024 the national total rose by 27%. Cavan's rose by 84%, the fourth-largest rise of the 26 counties. When the national total fell by 21% in 2025, Cavan gave back only 13%, so its share of all permits issued went from 1.0% in 2023 to 1.6% in 2025.
Refusals tripled over the same two years, from 18 to 56. That tracks what happened nationally, where the refusal rate more than doubled, to 10.0%, and in 2025 Cavan's rate of 10.1% sat right on the national figure. In 2024 Cavan was well below it, at 4.5% against 5.9%. DETE does not publish refusal reasons by county, but a refused application costs the same everywhere: DETE keeps 10% of the permit fee, the Labour Market Needs Test advertising is spent, and the weeks are gone.
A few large hirers and a long list of single permits
DETE also publishes the name of every company it issued a permit to, but not its county. We matched those names against the Companies Registration Office and kept the ones with a registered office in Co. Cavan: about 90 employers, holding about 430 of the county's 501 permits in 2025. A registered office is not always where the work happens, and not every company matches, so read the figures below as proportions rather than a headcount.
- Most Cavan permit employers hire one person. Just over half of the matched employers received exactly one permit in 2025, and about two in three received one or two.
- Most Cavan permits go to a few employers. Nine employers received ten or more permits each, and between them they held 57% of the matched total. The five largest held 43%, and the largest single employer held about a fifth.
Those are two different hiring problems. A business filling one hard vacancy needs the occupation, salary and Labour Market Needs Test right first time, because a refusal sets the whole hire back months. A business bringing in workers in numbers also has to watch the 50:50 rule and, for capped roles, whether the quota is still open.
Cavan's own workforce
Census 2022 counted 81,704 people in Cavan, up 7% on 2016. The number at work rose faster, by 16% to 35,350, the same rate of growth as the State. Non-Irish citizens made up 12% of the county's population, also the same as the State, and the number of people aged 65 and over rose by 19%, to 12,501. The figures are from the CSO's Census 2022 summary results for Cavan.
Which Cavan roles a permit can fill
- Food and meat processing: general production and packing operatives are on DETE's Ineligible List of Occupations. Butchers and boners have a quota of 548 permits. Meat processor operative is a separate role, and DETE's notice of 26 August 2026 says its quota is oversubscribed and asks employers not to submit new applications. Maintenance fitters, electricians and other skilled plant roles are eligible. See our manufacturing recruitment agency page.
- Construction: qualified building craftspeople such as bricklayers and carpenters are eligible, at the higher of the DETE threshold and the Construction Sectoral Employment Order rate, which has been €23.74 an hour for a craftsperson since 1 August 2026. Labourers and general site operatives are not eligible. See our construction recruitment agency page.
- Farming: farm worker is on the Ineligible List, so a general hand on a beef or sheep farm cannot be hired on a permit. Dairy farm assistant and pig farm assistant are named exceptions, at the standard €36,605 minimum. See our agriculture recruitment agency page.
- Nursing and care: registered nurses come in on a Critical Skills Employment Permit and register with NMBI. Healthcare assistants qualify for a General Employment Permit, and so do care workers and home carers within a quota of 1,495 permits from 13 May 2026. The minimum for all three care roles is €16.12 an hour, which is €32,691 a year on a 39-hour week. See our care recruitment agency page.
- Haulage: HGV drivers with a category CE or C1E licence, or a recognised equivalent, are eligible. Van drivers and fork-lift drivers are not. See our logistics recruitment agency page.
Every capped occupation is listed in our 2026 guide to employment permit quotas.
How a Cavan hire works
A Cavan application goes to the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment on the same national system as every other county, so we work by phone, WhatsApp, email and video. Monette, who owns CA Recruitment, is a Filipino national living in Ireland and recruits through her own contacts in the Philippines, and further afield when a role suits another country better. We check the occupation and the salary band, run the Labour Market Needs Test, prepare the application and arrange the visa and travel. You review the application and sign the employer declaration.
Our fee is agreed in writing before we start and is due only once the worker has started. DETE's own fee is separate: €1,000 for a General Employment Permit of more than six months and up to 24 months. Each placement carries a 90-day replacement guarantee on our fee. Allow about 6 months from first call to first shift for a candidate from a visa-required country such as the Philippines, or about 4 to 5 months where no Irish visa is needed, as for Brazil. The Work Permit Guide for Irish Employers covers each step, and our cost guide adds up the full bill.
Hiring further south or east too? See our Meath and Louth pages.
Hiring in Cavan? Check the role before you advertise.
WhatsApp Monette on 089 416 6124 for a free eligibility check. She will tell you whether the role can go on a permit, which salary floor applies, whether a quota is open, and when a worker could realistically start.
Frequently asked questions
DETE issued 501 employment permits to Cavan employers in 2025. That was 13% fewer than the 573 issued in 2024, a smaller fall than the 21% drop nationally, and still 61% more than the 312 issued in 2023. Only Monaghan and Leitrim grew faster over those two years.
Not in 2025. DETE refused 56 Cavan applications and issued 501, a refusal rate of 10.1%, against 10.0% nationally. Refusals did triple in two years, from 18 in 2023, as they rose across the country. DETE does not publish refusal reasons by county. The checks are the same everywhere: the occupation must be eligible, the salary must meet the floor for that occupation, the Labour Market Needs Test must run where it is required, and at least half the workforce must be EEA, Swiss or UK nationals under the 50:50 rule unless an exemption applies.
Not general operatives. General production and packing operatives are on DETE's Ineligible List of Occupations whatever the plant makes. Meat processor operative had its own quota, but DETE's notice of 26 August 2026 says that quota is oversubscribed and asks employers not to submit new applications. Butchers and boners have a separate quota of 548 permits, and skilled roles such as maintenance fitters and electricians are eligible at the DETE salary threshold.
No. We are based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, and have no office in Cavan Town or anywhere else in the county. We work by phone, WhatsApp, email and video call, and DETE decides every application centrally, so nothing in the process depends on where the agency is. Our WRC Employment Agency Licence number is EA 5444.
About 6 months from first call to first shift for a candidate from a visa-required country such as the Philippines. That covers the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test, DETE processing and the Irish entry visa. Where the candidate's country needs no Irish visa, as with Brazil, allow about 4 to 5 months. A Cavan employer who needs someone by the summer should start in the autumn or winter before.