In short: Employment permits for Co. Louth fell further in 2025 than in all but two other counties. DETE issued 511, down 36% from 804 the year before, while refusals rose from 33 to 54. Louth's refusal rate, among the lowest in the State in 2023, reached 9.6% in 2025, close to the national 10.0%. CA Recruitment is a WRC-licensed employment agency (Licence No. EA 5444) that recruits outside the EEA, mostly in the Philippines, and manages the DETE permit from the eligibility check to the visa. We are based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, and have no Louth office.
Checked on 12 October 2026. Salary floors, DETE fees and occupation quotas move during the year, and DETE can close a quota with a single notice on its website. Contact us and we will tell you where your role stands today, before you spend money on an advert.
Louth's permit figures turned in 2025
These are Louth's rows from DETE's employment permit statistics by county:
| Year | Permits issued, Louth | Refused, Louth | Louth refusal rate | National refusal rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 649 | 20 | 3.0% | 4.8% |
| 2024 | 804 | 33 | 3.9% | 5.9% |
| 2025 | 511 | 54 | 9.6% | 10.0% |
For two years Louth applications did better at DETE than the national average. In 2023 only about one in 33 decided Louth applications was refused, a rate among the four lowest in the State. In 2025 the gap closed: 54 refusals, nearly three times the 2023 figure, and a rate within half a point of the national one. The refusal rate is refusals as a share of decided applications (issued plus refused).
Issued permits fell faster than almost anywhere. The national total dropped 21% between 2024 and 2025; Louth's dropped 36%, a steeper fall than every county except Kildare and Waterford. Louth's share of the permits issued in Ireland went from 2.1% in 2023 to 1.6% in 2025, against 2.7% of the State's population at the 2022 census. DETE does not publish reasons by county, so the table cannot say whether Louth employers applied less or were turned down more. It does say that a clean record in 2023 and 2024 is no guide to how a 2026 application will be treated.
A long tail of one-off hires, and a few big users
DETE's list of companies granted permits gives no county. We looked each company up in the Companies Registration Office and kept the ones whose registered office is in Co. Louth. Head offices are not always where people work, and some names will not match, so read this as indicative. Around 140 Louth-registered employers were matched to a permit in 2025. 84% of them received one or two. At the other end, the five largest users accounted for just over half of the matched permits.
So there are two Louth permit markets side by side: a handful of employers recruiting in volume, and a much larger group each filling one or two posts. If you are in the second group, the paperwork is identical to the first. One hire still needs an eligible occupation, the right salary and, for most General Employment Permit roles, a 28-day Labour Market Needs Test.
More Louth people working, and more of them over 65
The CSO's Census 2022 summary for Louth shows why spare staff are hard to find. Population grew 8% to 139,703 between 2016 and 2022, but the number of residents at work grew 18% to 59,140. The county also aged: people aged 65 and over rose 24% to 19,898, and the average age went from 36.4 to 38.2. More people in work leaves fewer looking for it, and an older county needs more nurses and carers.
Hiring someone who lives across the border
Louth employers often ask whether a candidate living in Newry or Armagh needs a permit. It turns on nationality, not address. Irish and UK citizens can work in Ireland without a permit under the Common Travel Area. A non-EEA national living in Northern Ireland on UK immigration permission is in a different position: UK permission does not give a right to work in Ireland, so that person needs an Irish employment permit like any other overseas hire. Check which case you are in before you make an offer.
Louth roles a permit can and cannot fill
- Retail: the permit route is narrow here. Sales assistants, cashiers, sales supervisors and bakery staff are ineligible. Retail managers who run the operation can qualify, butchers and boners are eligible within a quota of 548 from 13 May 2026, and registered pharmacists come in on the Critical Skills route with PSI registration. See our retail recruitment page.
- Nursing and care: registered nurses use 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, and care worker and home carer permits sit within a quota of 1,495 from 13 May 2026. See our nursing and care recruitment pages.
- Manufacturing: skilled roles such as maintenance fitters, electricians, CNC operatives, and technician and quality control posts for plants in Dundalk and Drogheda. General production and packing operatives are ineligible. See our manufacturing recruitment agency page.
- Haulage: HGV drivers with a category CE or C1E licence, or an equivalent the Road Safety Authority recognises, for hauliers on the M1. Van drivers, fork-lift drivers and elementary warehouse operatives cannot get a permit. See our logistics recruitment agency page.
- Hospitality: chefs from commis chef upwards, with the experience DETE sets for each grade, for kitchens in Carlingford, Dundalk and Drogheda. Waiting, bar and kitchen-assistant jobs are ineligible. Hotel, restaurant, licensed-premises and catering and bar managers are eligible only inside quotas of 100, 200, 50 and 50 from 13 May 2026, each with its own Labour Market Needs Test. See our hospitality recruitment agency page.
- Construction and farming: qualified building crafts such as bricklayers and carpenters at the higher of the DETE threshold and the Construction Sectoral Employment Order rate, €23.74 an hour for a craftsperson since 1 August 2026; labourers do not qualify. On farms, a general farm worker is ineligible, but dairy and pig farm assistants are named exceptions at the standard €36,605. See our construction and agriculture pages.
Every capped occupation is listed in our 2026 employment permit quotas guide.
How we handle a Louth hire
DETE runs one national system, so a Dundalk application is processed exactly like one from Cork. We work with Louth employers by phone, WhatsApp, email and video. Monette, who owns CA Recruitment, is Filipino, lives in Ireland and recruits mainly through her own contacts in the Philippines, going to other countries when a role suits them better. We confirm the role is eligible, set the salary, run the Labour Market Needs Test, prepare the General Employment Permit or Critical Skills application and arrange the visa and travel. You approve the application and sign the employer declaration.
Our fee is agreed in writing before work starts and is due only once the worker has started. DETE charges €1,000 for a General Employment Permit of more than six months and up to 24, separately. From a visa-required country such as the Philippines, a General Employment Permit hire takes about 6 months from first call to first day; from a country whose citizens need no Irish visa, such as Brazil, about 4 to 5 months. Placements carry a 90-day replacement guarantee on our fee. Our cost guide lists every charge, and the Work Permit Guide covers each step.
Also hiring nearby? See our Meath and Dublin pages.
Hiring in Dundalk or Drogheda? Check the role first.
WhatsApp Monette on 089 416 6124 for a free eligibility check. She will tell you whether your Louth role can go on a permit, which salary floor applies, whether a quota is still open and when the worker could realistically start.
Frequently asked questions
DETE does not publish reasons by county, so nobody can say for certain. What the figures show is that DETE issued 511 permits for Co. Louth in 2025, down 36% from 804 in 2024, while the national total fell 21%. Refusals rose at the same time, from 33 to 54. Only Kildare and Waterford saw steeper falls in permits issued.
It is now about average. Louth's refusal rate was 3.0% in 2023 and 3.9% in 2024, below the national 4.8% and 5.9%. In 2025 it rose to 9.6%, against 10.0% nationally. DETE keeps 10% of the permit fee when it refuses an application, so checking eligibility and salary before applying matters as much in Louth as anywhere.
It depends on the person's nationality, not where they live. Irish and UK citizens can work in Ireland without an employment permit under the Common Travel Area. A non-EEA national living in Northern Ireland on UK immigration permission needs an Irish employment permit, because UK permission does not give the right to work in Ireland.
No. Sales assistants, cashiers, sales supervisors and bakery staff are on DETE's Ineligible List of Occupations. Retail managers who run the operation can qualify, butchers and boners are eligible within a quota of 548 permits from 13 May 2026, and registered pharmacists qualify for a Critical Skills Employment Permit once registered with the PSI.
No. We are based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, with no office in Co. Louth, and we work by phone, WhatsApp, email and video call. DETE decides permits centrally, so the agency's location does not affect the application. Our WRC Employment Agency Licence number is EA 5444.
Allow about 6 months from first call to first day for a General Employment Permit hire from a visa-required country such as the Philippines. That includes the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test, DETE processing and the entry visa. From a country whose citizens need no Irish entry visa, such as Brazil, allow about 4 to 5 months. Critical Skills roles skip the Labour Market Needs Test and are usually quicker.