In short: DETE refused 189 employment permit applications from Co. Meath in 2025, against 53 in 2023. Over the same two years Meath's refusal rate went from 4.5%, just under the national rate, to 13.1%, well above the national 10.0%. Only Dublin, Cork, Kildare and Limerick had more refusals. CA Recruitment is a WRC-licensed employment agency (Licence No. EA 5444) that recruits outside the EEA, mainly in the Philippines, and handles the DETE permit from the eligibility check to the visa. We are based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, with no office in Meath.
Checked on 12 October 2026. Salary thresholds, DETE fees and quotas change through the year, and DETE can close a quota at short notice. Contact us and we will check where your role stands now, before you pay for anything.
Meath refusals more than tripled in two years
Meath's figures from DETE's employment permit statistics by county:
| Year | Permits issued, Meath | Refused, Meath | Meath refusal rate | National refusal rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1,137 | 53 | 4.5% | 4.8% |
| 2024 | 1,511 | 111 | 6.8% | 5.9% |
| 2025 | 1,252 | 189 | 13.1% | 10.0% |
The refusal rate (refusals as a share of decided applications) rose nationally too, but Meath's rose faster, and it was the sixth highest of any county in the State in 2025. More than one Meath application in eight was turned down. DETE does not publish refusal reasons by county, so the table cannot say what went wrong in those 189 cases. It does show what each one cost the employer: 10% of the permit fee, which DETE keeps, plus the advertising and the weeks.
Demand has not shrunk to match. Permits issued for Meath fell 17% in 2025, less than the 21% national fall, and the county's share of all permits issued in Ireland has risen every year, from 3.7% in 2023 to 4.0% in 2025.
Meath permit employers hire in larger numbers
DETE's list of companies issued permits has no county column. We matched each name against the Companies Registration Office and kept those with a registered office in Co. Meath. Registered offices are not always where people work, and not every company matches, so these are approximate. About 260 Meath-registered employers were matched to a permit in 2025, holding about 1,190 permits between them. About two in three received one or two, and the five largest users accounted for about three in ten of the matched permits.
That is a more even spread than in neighbouring Louth, where 84% of matched employers took one or two permits and the five largest took just over half. Nearly a third of matched Meath employers took three or more permits, so getting the job description and salary right once pays off across several hires.
A young county with more people over 65
The CSO's Census 2022 results for Meath put the county's population at 220,826, up 13% since 2016, against 8% for the State. The number at work rose 22% to 101,189. Meath is young, with an average age of 36.9 against 38.8 nationally, but its over-65s grew 30% to 27,059, faster than the national 22%. Care demand is growing in a county whose working-age residents are already employed, many of them commuting to Dublin.
Industry is competing for technicians as well. A Dáil written answer of 1 May 2025 said 3,047 people were employed in 2024 across 16 IDA-supported client companies in County Meath.
Which Meath roles qualify for a permit
- Racing yards and stud farms: grooms, stable hands and other animal care roles fall under SOC code 6139, which is on DETE's Ineligible List of Occupations, so no permit is possible for them at any salary. The list carves out the work rider by name. A yard near Fairyhouse or Navan that needs work riders has a route; one that needs grooms does not.
- 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 on a General Employment Permit at €16.12 an hour, which is €32,691 a year on a 39-hour week; care worker and home carer permits sit within a quota of 1,495 from 13 May 2026. See our nursing and care recruitment pages.
- Pharmaceutical and engineering manufacturing: maintenance fitters, electricians, CNC operatives, technicians, engineers and quality control staff for plants around Dunboyne, Navan and the east of the county. General production and packing operatives are ineligible. See our manufacturing recruitment agency page.
- Construction: qualified building crafts such as bricklayers and carpenters for builders in Ashbourne, Ratoath, Dunboyne and Navan, paid at least 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 and general site operatives do not qualify. See our construction recruitment agency page.
- Logistics: HGV drivers with a category CE or C1E licence, or an equivalent recognised by the Road Safety Authority, for distribution along the M1, M2 and M3. Warehouse operatives, fork-lift drivers and van drivers are ineligible. See our logistics recruitment agency page.
- Hospitality and farming: chefs from commis chef up, with the experience DETE asks for at each grade, for Navan, Trim, Slane and the Boyne Valley; waiting, bar and kitchen-assistant jobs are ineligible, and hospitality management roles are capped at 100, 200, 50 and 50 permits from 13 May 2026. On farms, general farm worker is ineligible but dairy farm assistant and pig farm assistant qualify at the standard €36,605. See our hospitality and agriculture pages.
Our 2026 employment permit quotas guide lists every capped occupation.
How we run a Meath hire
The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment decides every permit centrally, so a Navan application goes through the same process as one from Galway. We work by phone, WhatsApp, email and video. Monette, who owns CA Recruitment, is Filipino, lives in Ireland and recruits through her own contacts in the Philippines, looking elsewhere when a role suits another country. We confirm the occupation is eligible, set the salary, run the Labour Market Needs Test, check the 50:50 rule, under which at least half your employees must be EEA, Swiss or UK nationals, prepare the General Employment Permit or Critical Skills application and arrange the visa and travel. You review the application and sign the employer declaration.
Our fee is agreed in writing up front and payable once the worker starts. DETE's fee is separate: €1,000 for a General Employment Permit of more than six months and up to 24. A General Employment Permit hire from a visa-required country such as the Philippines takes about 6 months from first call to first day, and about 4 to 5 months from a visa-exempt country such as Brazil. Placements carry a 90-day replacement guarantee on our fee. See the cost guide and the Work Permit Guide for the detail.
Hiring around Meath too? See our Dublin and Kildare pages, or Westmeath to the west.
Hiring in Navan or Ashbourne? Get the role checked first.
WhatsApp Monette on 089 416 6124 for a free eligibility check. She will tell you whether the Meath role can be filled on a permit, which salary floor applies, whether a quota is still open and when the worker could start.
Frequently asked questions
DETE refused 189 applications from Co. Meath in 2025 and issued 1,252, a refusal rate of 13.1% against 10.0% nationally. Refusals were 53 in 2023 and 111 in 2024, when the rate was 4.5% and 6.8%. DETE keeps 10% of the permit fee on a refusal.
Not as grooms. Grooms, stable hands and other animal care roles fall under SOC code 6139, which is on DETE's Ineligible List of Occupations, so no permit can be issued for them at any salary. The work rider is carved out of that code by name, so a yard that needs work riders can apply for a General Employment Permit, subject to the Labour Market Needs Test and the salary threshold.
The minimum for healthcare assistants, care workers and home carers is €16.12 an hour, which is €32,691 a year on a 39-hour week. Care worker and home carer permits are also limited to a quota of 1,495 from 13 May 2026. Registered nurses register with NMBI and then come in on a Critical Skills Employment Permit.
No. We are based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, and have no office in Navan, Ashbourne, Dunboyne, Trim or elsewhere in Meath. We work by phone, WhatsApp, email and video call, and DETE decides permits centrally. Our WRC Employment Agency Licence number is EA 5444.
For a General Employment Permit hire from a visa-required country such as the Philippines, allow about 6 months from first call to first day, including 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 faster.