In short: CA Recruitment recruits for employers in Dundalk, Drogheda, Ardee, Dunleer, Carlingford and across Co. Louth. We are a WRC-licensed employment agency that sources candidates outside the EEA, mostly from the Philippines, and manages the DETE employment permit from the first eligibility check through to the visa. Every placement carries a 90-day replacement guarantee. We are based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, and do not have a Louth office. Irish employment permits are decided nationally, so we handle a Dundalk hire the same way we handle one in Cork: by phone, WhatsApp, email and video call.
Correct as of 9 October 2026. The salary floors, DETE fees and occupation quotas quoted on this page change through the year, and a quota can close on the day DETE posts a notice. Contact us and we will confirm where your role stands today before you pay for anything.
Recruitment agency Dundalk and Drogheda: why Louth vacancies stay open
This page is written for Louth employers, not for people looking for work. If you have advertised the same job twice and the right person has not applied, more advertising rarely fixes it. The people you need are not in the Irish and EEA pool you and every other agency are drawing from.
Louth's two big towns are bigger than most people assume. Census 2022 put Drogheda at 44,135 people and Dundalk at 43,112, the two largest towns in the State. The county as a whole grew 8% to 139,703 between 2016 and 2022, and the number of residents at work climbed faster still, by 18% to 59,140. Employers took on that growth, and many of them are now competing for the same skilled staff.
Demand for care is rising with it. The CSO counted 19,898 Louth residents aged 65 and over in 2022, 24% more than six years earlier, and the county's average age moved from 36.4 to 38.2. Nursing homes and homecare providers in Dundalk and Drogheda feel that first.
Hiring from outside the EEA is legal and well-trodden, but the permit conditions are strict. The job has to be an eligible occupation and must not sit on DETE's Ineligible List. The pay offered must meet DETE's minimum for that occupation. Most General Employment Permit roles first need a 28-day Labour Market Needs Test. Your workforce has to pass the 50:50 rule, under which at least half your employees must be EEA nationals, with narrow exemptions such as Enterprise Ireland or IDA-supported start-ups. And the application has to go in right, because a refusal costs time and part of the fee. That is the work a generalist agency usually leaves to you, and it is the work we take on.
What CA Recruitment does that a Louth generalist agency does not
If the person you need already lives in Louth or nearby, a local agency with a big database may be the faster call, and we will tell you so. We are the right call when that search has already failed:
- Sourcing outside the EEA. Monette, who runs CA Recruitment, is Filipino and lives in Ireland. Candidates come through her own network in the Philippines, and through other countries when a role suits them better. She speaks to each candidate and checks their qualifications before you see a CV.
- The permit, all of it. We confirm the role is eligible, set the salary on the correct threshold, run the Labour Market Needs Test, prepare and file the DETE application and manage the visa and travel. You approve the application and sign the employer declaration.
- A replacement guarantee on our fee. If a worker placed by CA Recruitment leaves your employment within their first 90 days, or you have to dismiss them for gross misconduct within that period, we will source and place a replacement worker and waive our recruitment fee for that replacement. Our guarantee terms spell out what it covers and what it does not.
- A straight answer on eligibility first. Several jobs Louth employers ask about cannot be filled on a permit at all, retail sales assistants, general operatives and waiting staff among them. Others are eligible but capped by a quota. You find that out on the first call, not after paying for an advert.
Comparing agencies? Our guide to choosing an overseas recruitment agency in Ireland sets out what to ask any of them, and our guide to recruitment agency terms of business covers what belongs in writing before you sign.
Sectors we recruit for in Louth
Census 2022 shows where Louth people work. Wholesale and retail employed almost 8,200, health and social work just over 7,100, and manufacturing more than 6,300. Those three sectors do not open up to permits in the same way, so here is what each one allows:
- Health and care: registered nurses for hospitals, nursing homes and clinics go through the Critical Skills Employment Permit, and we run their NMBI registration alongside it. Healthcare assistants, care workers and home carers come in on a General Employment Permit at DETE's reduced floor of €32,691 a year, which is €16.12 an hour on a 39-hour week. Care worker and home carer permits sit inside a quota of 1,495 from 13 May 2026. Our nursing recruitment agency and care recruitment agency pages cover each role in more depth.
- Manufacturing and engineering: the eligible jobs are the skilled ones: CNC operatives, maintenance fitters, electricians, and engineering, technician and quality control roles in plants around Dundalk and Drogheda. General production and packing operatives are on the ineligible list in every sector. See our manufacturing recruitment agency page.
- Retail: the county's biggest employer by headcount, and the one where permits help least. Sales assistants, cashiers, sales supervisors and bakery staff are all ineligible. The roles that qualify are retail and area managers who genuinely run the operation, butchers and boners within a quota of 548, and registered pharmacists on the Critical Skills route with PSI registration. Details on our retail recruitment page.
- Haulage: HGV drivers holding a category CE or C1E licence, or an equivalent licence the Road Safety Authority recognises, for hauliers running the M1 between Dublin and the border. Van drivers, fork-lift drivers and elementary warehouse operatives are ineligible. See our logistics recruitment agency page.
- Hospitality: qualified chefs for hotels and restaurants in Dundalk, Drogheda and Carlingford, from commis chef up, each with the experience DETE requires for the grade. Waiting, bar and kitchen-assistant roles cannot be filled on a permit. Managers of hotels, restaurants, licensed premises and bars are eligible only inside the four quotas S.I. 213/2026 created from 13 May 2026, of 100, 200, 50 and 50 permits, and each needs a fresh Labour Market Needs Test. See our hospitality recruitment agency page.
- Construction: skilled trades for builders across the county. General labourers do not qualify. A named trade must be paid at least the higher of the DETE threshold and the Sectoral Employment Order rate, which for a craftsperson is €23.74 an hour from 1 August 2026. Our construction recruitment agency page lists the trades.
- Farming and food: a general farm worker cannot get a permit. Dairy farm assistants and pig farm assistants are carved out of that ban by name and qualify at the standard €36,605, and horticulture workers qualify at €32,691 within a quota of 971. Meat processor operative is an eligible role, but DETE's notice of 26 August 2026 says that quota is oversubscribed and asks employers not to submit new applications, so we are not taking those on while the notice stands. See our agriculture recruitment agency page.
Not sure which side of the line your role falls? We check it against DETE's lists and the current quota position for free. Our 2026 employment permit quotas guide lists every capped occupation, and every sector we cover is on the sectors page.
How a Louth hire works with us
The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (DETE) runs one national permit system. There is no Louth office to deal with and nothing about the process changes because your business is in Dundalk rather than Dublin. We work from Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, have no office in Louth, and nothing in the process requires us to visit.
Most of the roles above go on a General Employment Permit, where the usual minimum salary is €36,605 a year and the care, horticulture and meat roles named above carry the reduced €32,691 floor. Nurses, pharmacists and other occupations on the Critical Skills list use the Critical Skills Employment Permit. We tell you which applies, run the Labour Market Needs Test where needed, file the application and manage the visa and the worker's arrival. Our Work Permit Guide for Irish Employers walks through every step.
On cost: we agree our fee with you in writing before any work starts and you owe us nothing until the worker is in the job. DETE's charges are separate, and the main one is €1,000 for a General Employment Permit of six to 24 months. The full list, including employer PRSI, is in our guide to the cost of hiring an overseas worker in Ireland. On time, each permit runs to its own clock. A General Employment Permit hire from a visa-required country such as the Philippines usually takes 6 to 8 months from first call to first day, and about 4 to 5 months from a country such as Brazil whose nationals need no Irish entry visa. A Critical Skills hire skips the Labour Market Needs Test and usually takes about 3 to 5 months.
Hiring in more than one county? Our overseas recruitment agency page covers the national service, and we do the same work for employers in neighbouring Meath and in Dublin.
Hiring in Dundalk or Drogheda? Start with a free eligibility check.
WhatsApp Monette on 089 416 6124. She will tell you whether your Louth role can be filled on a permit, which permit and salary floor apply, whether any quota is still open and a realistic start date. No obligation.
Why Louth employers choose CA Recruitment
Run by a Filipino recruiter living in Ireland
Monette knows the Irish workplace and the Philippine candidate market. She interviews candidates herself and checks their certificates before anyone reaches your shortlist.
Permit work off your desk
Eligibility, salary, advertising, the DETE application and the visa are all ours. You pick the candidate and sign where the employer has to sign.
90-day replacement guarantee
If the worker leaves in the first 90 days, or is dismissed for gross misconduct in that window, we find a replacement and waive our fee for it. Government costs are not included.
Licensed, costs agreed upfront
We hold WRC Employment Agency Licence No. EA 5444. Our fee is set in writing before we start, and DETE and other third-party charges pass through at cost.
Frequently asked questions
No. We are based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, and have no office in Dundalk, Drogheda or anywhere else in Co. Louth. Louth employers work with us by phone, WhatsApp, email and video call, the same as our clients in every other county. The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment decides permits centrally, so no step of the process depends on where we are based. Our WRC Employment Agency Licence number is EA 5444.
In Ireland the employer pays the agency, and the law does not let that fee be passed to the worker. Our fee is agreed with you in writing before any work starts and is not payable until the worker has started. Government and third-party costs are billed separately at cost with no mark-up. The DETE fee for a General Employment Permit is €1,000 for a permit of six to 24 months, or €500 for six months or less. Add any Labour Market Needs Test advertising and the worker's visa, travel and medical costs. If DETE refuses an application it refunds 90% of the fee to the applicant. You get the full breakdown in writing before you commit.
It depends on what you would otherwise have to do yourself. An employer can apply to DETE directly, and no rule requires an agency for an overseas hire. The fee earns its keep when the agency does the parts that are hard to do in-house: finding suitable candidates outside the EEA, checking the role against DETE's lists and quotas, setting the right salary, running the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test and getting the application right first time. A refused application costs weeks, the advertising spend and 10% of the DETE fee. If your HR team already handles permits well, you may not need us. If a Dundalk or Drogheda vacancy has been open for months with no suitable applicant, you probably do.
It depends on the person's nationality, not on where they live. Irish and UK citizens can work in Ireland without an employment permit under the Common Travel Area, so a UK citizen living in Newry needs no permit to work in Dundalk. A non-EEA national living in Northern Ireland on UK immigration permission is different: UK permission does not give the right to work in Ireland, so that person needs an Irish employment permit like any other overseas hire. We check which case applies before you make an offer.
No. Section 55 of the Employment Permits Act 2024 prevents an employer from deducting or recovering from a permit holder the permit fee, the cost of recruiting them, or travel costs the employer has already paid. The Employment Agency Act 1971 separately prohibits an Irish employment agency from charging a jobseeker for finding them work. So the costs of an overseas hire sit with you, the employer. That is why we put every line in writing before you decide.
Roles that qualify for an Irish employment permit and are not on DETE's Ineligible List of Occupations. For Louth employers that usually means registered nurses, healthcare assistants, care workers and home carers; skilled manufacturing roles such as CNC operatives, maintenance fitters, electricians and quality control technicians; qualified chefs; skilled construction trades; HGV drivers with a CE or C1E licence or an RSA-recognised equivalent; retail and area managers, butchers and boners, and pharmacists; and dairy farm assistants, pig farm assistants and horticulture workers. Retail sales assistants, cashiers, general operatives, warehouse operatives, waiting and bar staff, kitchen assistants and general farm workers are all ineligible. Some eligible roles are capped: from 13 May 2026 the quotas include 1,495 for care workers and home carers, 971 for horticulture workers, 548 for butchers and boners, and 100, 200, 50 and 50 for four hospitality management roles. DETE's notice of 26 August 2026 asks employers not to submit new meat processor operative applications because that quota is oversubscribed. We confirm both eligibility and the quota position on a free call.
It depends on the permit. For a General Employment Permit, allow 6 to 8 months from the first call to the worker's first day if the candidate is from a visa-required country such as the Philippines; that covers the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test, DETE processing and the entry visa. If the candidate is from a country whose nationals need no Irish entry visa, such as Brazil, allow about 4 to 5 months. A Critical Skills Employment Permit needs no Labour Market Needs Test, so allow about 3 to 5 months. We give you a timeline for your role before you commit.
If a worker placed by CA Recruitment leaves your employment within their first 90 days, or you have to dismiss them for gross misconduct within that period, we will source and place a replacement worker and waive our recruitment fee for that replacement. The guarantee covers our fee only. A permit cannot move from one worker to another, so the replacement needs a new DETE application and fee, and any fresh Labour Market Needs Test advertising and the new worker's visa and travel are also outside it. Everything it does and does not cover is set out on our 90-day replacement guarantee page.