In short: Donegal went against the national trend in 2025. DETE issued 488 employment permits to Donegal employers, 14% more than in 2024, while the national total fell by about a fifth. Refusals rose faster: 75 Donegal applications were turned down, up from 27, and the county's refusal rate reached 13.3%. 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 Donegal.
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.
Donegal grew while the national total shrank
DETE publishes its permit decisions by county every year in its permits by county tables. Donegal's last three years:
| Year | Permits issued, Donegal | Refused, Donegal | Donegal refusal rate | National refusal rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 387 | 19 | 4.7% | 4.8% |
| 2024 | 428 | 27 | 5.9% | 5.9% |
| 2025 | 488 | 75 | 13.3% | 10.0% |
Only five of the 26 counties had more permits issued in 2025 than in 2024, and Donegal was one of them. Its total has risen by about a quarter in two years, from 387 to 488. Nationally, 2025 finished almost exactly where 2023 started: 31,044 permits issued against 30,981.
The refusal column moved as well. For two years Donegal sat on the national average, at 4.7% against 4.8% in 2023 and level at 5.9% in 2024. In 2025 refusals nearly tripled, and the rate of 13.3% was the fifth highest of the 26 counties. The national rate rose to 10.0% in the same year, so part of the jump is DETE refusing more everywhere; Donegal's rose further. DETE does not publish its reasons by county. What a refusal costs is clear enough: DETE keeps 10% of the permit fee, the Labour Market Needs Test advertising is spent, and the weeks are gone.
Builders and engineering firms hold more of Donegal's permits
DETE also publishes the name of every company it issued a permit to, without a county. We matched those names against the Companies Registration Office and kept the ones with a registered office in Co. Donegal: about 100 employers, holding about 410 of the county's 488 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.
- Size: about six in ten of those employers received one or two permits. Nine received ten or more, and the five largest held a third of the matched total. A good share of Donegal's permit hiring is done by firms bringing in several workers at a time.
- Sector: we sorted every company on DETE's 2025 list by the words in its name, which is rough and leaves many unclassified. On that basis, construction, engineering and trades firms held about 27% of the matched Donegal permits, against about 6% of permits across the whole list. Food and farming businesses held about 15%, against about 7%. Health and care held about 10%, well below the 23% it holds across the list.
Which Donegal roles a permit can fill
- Construction and engineering trades: qualified craftspeople are eligible. Pay must meet the DETE salary threshold, and for the building crafts covered by the Construction Sector Sectoral Employment Order, such as bricklayers and carpenters, the SEO rate as well, which has been €23.74 an hour for a craftsperson since 1 August 2026. Labourers and general site operatives are not eligible, and neither are general production and packing operatives in a factory. See our construction recruitment agency and manufacturing recruitment agency pages.
- Seafood and food processing: Killybegs is one of the State's Fishery Harbour Centres. Fish filleter and seafood operative became eligible under quotas of 50 and 100 permits from 13 May 2026, and both need a fresh Labour Market Needs Test. Butchers and boners have a separate quota of 548. Meat processor operative is a different role: DETE's notice of 26 August 2026 says that quota is oversubscribed and asks employers not to submit new applications.
- Farming: farm worker is on DETE's Ineligible List of Occupations, 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 register with NMBI and then come in on a Critical Skills Employment Permit. 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 nursing recruitment agency and care recruitment agency pages.
- Hospitality: chefs from commis chef up, where the candidate has the experience DETE expects at that grade. Waiting staff, bar staff and kitchen assistants are ineligible. Hotel, restaurant, licensed-premises and catering and bar managers are eligible only within quotas of 100, 200, 50 and 50 permits from 13 May 2026. See our hospitality recruitment agency page.
Every capped occupation is listed in our 2026 guide to employment permit quotas.
Hiring from Donegal without a local office
A Donegal application goes to the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment on the same national system as one from anywhere else, 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. A hotel in Bundoran or on Inishowen that wants a chef for the summer should start the autumn or winter before. The Work Permit Guide for Irish Employers covers each step, and our cost guide adds up the full bill.
Hiring elsewhere in the north-west? See our Sligo, Mayo and Galway pages.
Hiring in Donegal? 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 refused 75 Donegal applications in 2025 and issued 488, a refusal rate of 13.3%, up from 5.9% in 2024. The national rate rose too, from 5.9% to 10.0%, so DETE was turning down more applications across the country, and Donegal rose further than most. DETE does not publish refusal reasons by county. The checks are the same for every employer: 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.
Yes, within a quota. Fish filleter and seafood operative became eligible for a General Employment Permit under quotas of 50 and 100 permits from 13 May 2026, counted nationally rather than per county. Both need a fresh Labour Market Needs Test. Quotas this small can fill quickly, so we check that the quota is still open before you advertise. Meat processor operative is a separate role, and DETE's notice of 26 August 2026 says that quota is oversubscribed.
Qualified tradespeople, yes. Labourers and general site operatives are not eligible, and general production and packing operatives are on the Ineligible List of Occupations whatever the plant makes. For the building crafts covered by the Construction Sector Sectoral Employment Order, such as bricklayers and carpenters, the employer must pay the higher of the DETE salary threshold and the SEO rate, which has been €23.74 an hour for a craftsperson since 1 August 2026.
No. We are based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, and have no office in Letterkenny, Donegal Town, Killybegs, Buncrana 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.
In the autumn or winter before. A General Employment Permit hire from a visa-required country such as the Philippines takes about 6 months from first call to first shift, covering 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. Chefs from commis chef up are eligible; waiting staff, bar staff and kitchen assistants are not.