In short: Kildare employers received 1,194 employment permits in 2025, down from 2,342 the year before. That 49% fall was more than twice the national drop of 21%. Over the same two years Kildare's refusal rate went from 3.0%, one of the lowest in the State, to 14.5%, the third highest. CA Recruitment is a WRC-licensed employment agency (Licence No. EA 5444) that recruits from outside the EEA, mainly the Philippines, and manages the DETE permit for the employer. We are based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, with no Kildare office.
Checked on 12 October 2026. DETE changes salary floors, fees and quotas during the year, and a quota can fill between one week and the next. Send us the role and we will confirm where it stands now, before any money is spent.
Kildare's permits halved in a year while refusals climbed
These are Kildare's lines from DETE's permits by county tables:
| Year | Permits issued, Kildare | Refused, Kildare | Kildare refusal rate | National refusal rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1,734 | 53 | 3.0% | 4.8% |
| 2024 | 2,342 | 122 | 5.0% | 5.9% |
| 2025 | 1,194 | 202 | 14.5% | 10.0% |
Few counties moved this far. Kildare's refusals almost quadrupled in two years, from 53 to 202, while the permits it was issued fell from a peak of 2,342 to 1,194. Its share of all permits issued in Ireland dropped from 5.9% in 2024 to 3.8% in 2025. In 2025 only Sligo and Laois had a higher refusal rate, and roughly one decided Kildare application in seven was turned down.
DETE does not publish refusal reasons by county, and the tables cannot say whether the fall in permits issued came from fewer applications, more refusals or both. What they do show is that an assumption which held for a Kildare employer in 2023, that a permit application would almost always go through, no longer did by 2025. A refusal still costs the 10% of the fee DETE keeps, the Labour Market Needs Test advertising and several weeks. Getting the occupation code, salary and workforce ratio right before applying is the part an employer controls.
Who in Kildare hires on permits
DETE publishes the name of each company issued a permit but not its county, so we matched those names against the Companies Registration Office and kept the ones with a registered office in Co. Kildare. A registered office is not always where the staff work, and some names do not match, so this is an outline rather than a count.
Roughly 270 matched Kildare employers received a permit in 2025. About seven in ten received one or two, and just over half received exactly one. Around 20 employers each received ten or more, and together they took just over half of the county's matched permits. The five largest took about a quarter. Kildare's permit hiring is spread wider than its big plants would suggest: most applicants are small employers filling one post.
Studs and racing yards: the Kildare role a permit cannot fill
Grooms, stable hands and other animal care roles fall under occupation code 6139, "other animal care services occupations not elsewhere classified", which is on DETE's Ineligible List of Occupations. No permit is available for them at any salary. The list makes one exception by name: the work rider. A racing yard that needs work riders has a permit route. A stud that needs grooms does not, and calling the job something else on the application does not change that, because DETE codes the role from its duties.
Other Kildare roles a permit can and cannot fill
- Technical and engineering roles in manufacturing: maintenance fitters, electricians, instrumentation and process technicians, CNC machinists and quality roles for the semiconductor, pharmaceutical and engineering plants in the north of the county. General production and packing operatives are ineligible, whatever the plant makes. Our manufacturing hiring guide goes through the codes.
- Nursing and care: registered nurses on the Critical Skills Employment Permit, which can only be applied for once NMBI has registered the nurse. Healthcare assistants, care workers and home carers qualify for a General Employment Permit at €16.12 an hour, which is €32,691 a year on a 39-hour week; care workers and home carers sit within a quota of 1,495 permits from 13 May 2026. See our care recruitment agency page.
- Hotels, golf resorts and restaurants: chefs from commis chef up, with the experience DETE expects at that grade. Waiting, bar and kitchen-assistant roles are ineligible. Hotel, restaurant, licensed-premises and catering and bar managers are capped at 100, 200, 50 and 50 permits from 13 May 2026. See our hospitality recruitment agency page.
- Construction in the commuter towns: qualified craft tradespeople such as bricklayers, carpenters and plasterers, at the higher of the DETE threshold and the Sectoral Employment Order rate, €23.74 an hour for a craftsperson since 1 August 2026. Labourers and site operatives are ineligible. See our construction recruitment agency page.
- Distribution on the M7, M9 and M4: HGV drivers with a category CE or C1E licence, or an equivalent the Road Safety Authority recognises. Fork-lift drivers, van drivers and elementary warehouse operatives are ineligible. Our HGV driver guide has more on hiring drivers.
The 2026 quota guide lists every capped occupation, and our 50:50 rule explainer covers the workforce test.
How we run a Kildare hire
Employment permits are decided by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, not a county office, so we work with Kildare employers 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 elsewhere when a role suits another country better. We check the occupation code, set the pay, run the Labour Market Needs Test, prepare the application and arrange the visa and travel. You review the application and sign the employer declaration.
DETE's fee for a General Employment Permit of more than six months and up to 24 months is €1,000. Ours is agreed in writing before we start, is payable only after the worker has started, and is covered by a 90-day replacement guarantee. A General Employment Permit hire from the Philippines, which needs an Irish visa, takes about 6 months from first call to first shift; from a visa-exempt country such as Brazil, about 4 to 5 months. Our cost guide totals the full bill.
Also hiring nearby? See our Dublin, Meath and Kilkenny pages.
Hiring in Kildare? Check eligibility before you advertise.
WhatsApp Monette on 089 416 6124 for a free eligibility check. She will confirm whether your Kildare role can be filled on a permit, the occupation code and salary floor that apply, whether any quota is open, and a realistic start date.
Frequently asked questions
DETE issued 1,194 employment permits to Kildare employers in 2025, down 49% from 2,342 in 2024. Nationally the fall was 21%, from 39,390 to 31,044. Kildare's share of all permits issued fell from 5.9% to 3.8%. DETE's county tables do not say why.
In 2025 DETE refused 202 Kildare applications and issued 1,194, a refusal rate of 14.5% against 10.0% nationally. Only Sligo and Laois were higher. Kildare's rate was 3.0% in 2023, one of the lowest in the State, and 5.0% in 2024.
A racing yard can hire work riders, which are named as an exception on DETE's Ineligible List of Occupations. Grooms, stable hands and other animal care roles fall under occupation code 6139, which is ineligible, so no permit is available for them at any salary.
DETE refunds 90% of the permit fee and keeps 10%. On a €1,000 General Employment Permit, that is €100 lost, on top of the Labour Market Needs Test advertising and the weeks spent. The applicant can ask DETE to review a refusal within 28 days, but it is cheaper to get the occupation, salary and paperwork right first time.
No. We are based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, and work with employers in Naas, Newbridge, Maynooth, Kildare town and the rest of the county by phone, WhatsApp, email and video call. DETE decides permits centrally, so nothing depends on where the agency is. Our WRC Employment Agency Licence number is EA 5444.