In short: CA Recruitment is a WRC-licensed employment agency for employers in Navan, Ashbourne, Dunboyne, Trim, Kells and the rest of Meath who cannot fill roles from the local market. We source candidates from outside the EEA, most often the Philippines, and manage the full DETE employment permit: the eligibility check, the Labour Market Needs Test, the application, and the worker's visa. Every placement carries a 90-day replacement guarantee. We are based in Co. Tipperary and have no Meath office. The permit process is national and runs remotely, so a Meath employer gets exactly the same end-to-end management as any employer in Ireland.
Correct as of 2 October 2026. DETE salary thresholds, permit fees and quotas change during the year, and a quota can go from open to oversubscribed in a single notice. Get in touch and we will verify the current position for your specific role before you spend anything on the process.
A recruitment agency in Meath for roles the local market will not fill
This page is for employers, not job seekers. If a vacancy in your Meath business has been open for months, rewriting the advert rarely fixes it. The problem is the pool of candidates. A conventional agency places people who already have the right to work in Ireland, so a second agency usually means seeing the same candidates again.
Meath employers also recruit next door to Dublin. Ashbourne, Ratoath and Dunboyne are commuter towns, so a Meath business is often competing with Dublin employers for the same people. The hard-to-fill roles cluster in a few places. Our Lady's Hospital in Navan, the county's nursing homes and its homecare providers need nurses and carers. Hotels and restaurants around Navan, Trim, Slane and the Boyne Valley need chefs. Builders working the housing pipeline in the commuter towns need tradespeople, and distribution operators along the M1, M2 and M3 need licensed HGV drivers. Dairy farms need assistants who can milk and manage stock, and racing yards around Fairyhouse and Navan need work riders.
Manufacturing employers are chasing technicians too. In a Dáil written answer in May 2025, the Minister for Enterprise reported 3,047 people employed in 16 IDA-supported companies in Meath in 2024, up 19% on 2023. The same answer pointed to MSD's first biologics facility, opened in Dunboyne in 2023, and PCI's plans for a pharmaceutical packaging facility at Stamullen. A smaller manufacturer hiring fitters and QC technicians in Navan is competing with them.
Hiring from outside the EEA on an Irish employment permit is a legitimate, well-established route into a much larger pool. The work is in the process. The role has to be eligible and not on DETE's Ineligible List of Occupations. The salary has to meet the minimum for that occupation, the Labour Market Needs Test has to run for 28 days, and at least half your workforce has to be EEA nationals under the 50:50 rule, unless an exemption such as the one for Enterprise Ireland or IDA-supported start-ups applies. The application also has to be right first time. Most agencies will not take that part on. CA Recruitment does.
What CA Recruitment does that a generalist agency will not
Meath has plenty of recruitment agencies, and some have offices in the county. If the role can be filled from candidates already living in Ireland, a local agency may well be the right call. When it cannot, these are the differences that matter:
- Sourcing outside the EEA. Monette is Filipino, lives in Ireland, and sources candidates through her own direct networks in the Philippines. Where a role suits a candidate from another country, we source there too. You see people who match the role, not a database search.
- The DETE permit, end to end. We confirm the role against DETE's eligible and ineligible lists, set the salary at or above the correct threshold, run the Labour Market Needs Test, prepare and submit the application, and coordinate the worker's visa and travel. You review and sign the employer declaration on the application. We do the rest.
- A 90-day replacement guarantee. If a worker leaves within their first 90 days, or you dismiss them for gross misconduct in that period, we source a replacement and waive our recruitment fee for it. Read the full guarantee terms.
- Straight answers on eligibility and quotas. Some of the roles Meath employers most want to fill are on the ineligible list: grooms, general farm workers, warehouse operatives. Some eligible ones sit behind a quota that can close without warning. We tell you that on the first call, before you advertise and before you spend anything.
Comparing agencies for an overseas hire? Our guide to choosing an overseas recruitment agency in Ireland sets out the questions worth asking any agency, including us, and our guide to recruitment agency terms of business covers what you should see in writing before you sign.
Sectors we recruit for in Meath
CA Recruitment places overseas workers in any role eligible for an Irish employment permit. From Meath employers, the demand we see most often is:
- Nursing and care: registered nurses for Our Lady's Hospital Navan, nursing homes and clinics, on the Critical Skills route with NMBI registration managed alongside the permit. Healthcare assistants for nursing homes, and care workers and home carers for homecare and disability services across the county. These care roles take DETE's reduced rate of €16.12 an hour, which is €32,691 a year on a 39-hour week, and care workers and home carers sit under a quota of 1,495 permits from 13 May 2026. See our nursing recruitment agency and care recruitment agency pages.
- Hospitality: qualified chefs, from Commis Chef upwards with the experience DETE asks for, for hotels and restaurants in Navan, Trim, Slane, Kells and along the coast at Bettystown. Waiting, bar and kitchen-assistant roles are on the ineligible list. Hospitality management is eligible only within a quota: S.I. 213/2026 set four separate quotas from 13 May 2026 — 100 permits for hotel and accommodation managers, 200 for restaurant and catering establishment managers, 50 for publicans and managers of licensed premises, and 50 for catering and bar managers — each needing a fresh Labour Market Needs Test. See our hospitality recruitment agency page.
- Pharmaceutical and engineering manufacturing: the roles that qualify are the skilled and technical ones — CNC operatives, maintenance fitters, electricians, and technician, engineering and QC roles — for plants around Dunboyne, Navan and the east of the county. General production and packing operatives are on the ineligible list, whatever the plant makes. See our manufacturing recruitment agency page.
- Construction: skilled trades for the housing and commercial build pipeline in Ashbourne, Ratoath, Dunboyne, Navan and the other commuter towns. General labouring and site-operative roles do not qualify; the named trades do, and the minimum you must pay is whichever is higher — the DETE permit threshold or the legally binding Sectoral Employment Order rate for the trade. Our construction recruitment agency page covers the eligible trades and the pay floors.
- Logistics: HGV drivers who hold a category CE or C1E licence, or an equivalent recognised through a Road Safety Authority mutual recognition agreement, for distribution operations along the M1, M2 and M3. Elementary warehouse and storage operatives, fork-lift drivers and van drivers are on the ineligible list. See our logistics recruitment agency page.
- Dairy farming: farm worker is on DETE's ineligible list, so a general hand for a beef, sheep or tillage farm does not qualify. Dairy farm assistant is carved out of that list by name and is eligible for a General Employment Permit at the standard €36,605 threshold, as are pig farm assistant and pig manager. No statutory cap applies to dairy farm assistant permits today: the 850-permit figure set from 17 December 2025 sat in Schedule 5 of the Regulations, which S.I. 213/2026 replaced on 13 May 2026 without a dairy row. DETE has published no notice closing dairy applications between 17 December 2025 and 2 October 2026, and we confirm how DETE is handling dairy applications before you advertise. See our agriculture recruitment agency page.
- Racing yards: grooms, stable hands and other animal care roles fall under SOC code 6139, which is on the ineligible list, so no permit is available for them at any salary. The list carves out one role by name, the work rider. A yard near Fairyhouse or Navan that needs work riders has a permit route; one that needs grooms does not.
- Food processing: meat processor operative is an eligible role at the reduced €32,691 and €16.12 an hour threshold, but DETE's notice of 26 August 2026 says that quota is oversubscribed and asks employers not to submit new applications at this time. Butchers and boners are eligible under a separate quota of 548 permits from 13 May 2026.
Not sure your role qualifies? We confirm eligibility against DETE's lists during a free check, and check whether the occupation's quota is still open — our guide to Irish employment permit quotas in 2026 sets out which roles are capped this year. See the full list of sectors we cover.
How it works for a Meath business
The employment permit process is national. Applications go to the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (DETE), not to any local office, so a Meath employer is served exactly the same as one anywhere in Ireland. We are based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary and have no Meath office. Everything runs by phone, WhatsApp, email and video, and nothing in the process needs an in-person visit.
For most roles the route is the General Employment Permit, where the minimum annual remuneration is generally €36,605, with a reduced floor of €32,691 for the named roles above. For registered nurses and other shortage occupations on the Critical Skills list it is the Critical Skills Employment Permit. CA Recruitment confirms the correct permit, runs the Labour Market Needs Test where required, prepares and submits the DETE application, and coordinates the worker's visa and arrival. The full journey is set out in our Work Permit Guide for Irish Employers.
Two figures every Meath employer asks about. On cost, our recruitment fee is agreed in writing before any work begins, nothing is payable to us until the worker starts, and it is separate from government charges — the main one being the DETE application fee of €1,000 for a General Employment Permit of six to 24 months. Our guide to the cost of hiring an overseas worker in Ireland lays out every line, including employer PRSI and the salary floor. On time, allow 6 to 8 months from first call to start date for a candidate from a visa-required country such as the Philippines, or about 4 to 5 months from a non-visa-required country such as Brazil.
Hiring in more than one county, or nationally? Our overseas recruitment agency page covers the same service across Ireland, and we run the same process for employers in Dublin, Kildare and, to the north, Louth (Dundalk and Drogheda).
Hiring in Meath? Let's check eligibility.
WhatsApp Monette directly on 089 416 6124 for a free eligibility check. We'll confirm whether your Meath roles qualify, the correct permit and salary threshold, whether the quota is open, and a realistic timeline. No commitment required.
Why Meath employers work with CA Recruitment
Filipino-Irish owned, Ireland-based
Monette is Filipino and lives in Ireland. She sources candidates through her own direct networks in the Philippines: people she has spoken to and whose qualifications she has verified personally.
End-to-end permit management
The DETE process has precise requirements at every stage. We manage all of it. You review and sign documents and choose from the shortlist.
90-day replacement guarantee
If a placed worker leaves in the first 90 days, or is dismissed for gross misconduct in that period, we replace them and waive our fee for the replacement. Our fee only; government costs are not covered.
Licensed and transparent
CA Recruitment holds WRC Employment Agency Licence No. EA 5444. Fees are agreed upfront in writing; government charges are billed at cost.
Frequently asked questions
CA Recruitment is based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, and does not have an office in Navan, Ashbourne or anywhere else in Meath. We work with Meath employers the same way we work with employers everywhere in Ireland: by phone, WhatsApp, email and video. The employment permit process is national and runs through the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, not a local office, so nothing in the process needs an in-person visit. CA Recruitment holds WRC Employment Agency Licence No. EA 5444.
Irish recruitment agencies charge the employer a placement fee, and by law that fee cannot be passed to the worker. CA Recruitment agrees its fee with you in writing before any work begins, and nothing is payable to us until the worker starts with you. Government and third-party costs sit outside our fee and are passed through at cost: the DETE application fee of €1,000 for a General Employment Permit of six to 24 months, or €500 for one of six months or less; Labour Market Needs Test advertising where it is required; and the worker's visa, travel and medical costs. If DETE refuses the application, 90% of the application fee is refunded to the applicant. You get the full written breakdown before you commit to anything.
For the worker, no. Section 55 of the Employment Permits Act 2024 stops an employer recovering permit costs, recruitment costs or travel costs it has already paid from the worker, and the Employment Agency Act 1971 stops an Irish employment agency charging a jobseeker a fee for finding them work. The employer pays. With CA Recruitment the fee is agreed in writing at the start, nothing is payable until the worker starts, and the government charges are billed separately at cost rather than marked up. Hiring an overseas worker is not free — the DETE permit fee and the visa costs are real and the employer carries them — so we set out every line before you decide.
You can apply for an employment permit yourself. DETE accepts applications direct from employers and no agency is required. An agency earns its fee only if it removes work you would otherwise do badly or not at all: finding candidates outside the EEA, checking the occupation against DETE's eligible and ineligible lists and its quota, setting the salary on the correct band, running the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test, and getting the application right first time. A refused application costs you the advertising, the delay and 10% of the permit fee. If you already have a recruitment team doing that, you do not need us. If a vacancy in Navan, Ashbourne, Trim or anywhere in Meath has been open for months with no suitable applicant, that is the case for an agency.
Ask four things. First, where the candidates come from: an agency that only works the Irish and EEA market will show you the same people your own advert reached. Second, who handles the employment permit, and whether the agency checks the occupation against DETE's Ineligible List of Occupations and the quota position before you advertise. Third, what the fee is, when it is payable and what it excludes, in writing. Fourth, what happens if the worker leaves early. At CA Recruitment the answers are: candidates sourced outside the EEA, the whole DETE process run by us, a written fee payable only once the worker starts, and a 90-day replacement guarantee on our fee.
Any role that is eligible for an Irish employment permit and not on the Ineligible List of Occupations. For Meath employers that most often means registered nurses, healthcare assistants, care workers and home carers, qualified chefs, skilled construction trades, the skilled and technical roles in pharmaceutical and engineering manufacturing — CNC operatives, maintenance fitters, electricians and QC technicians — HGV drivers holding a category CE or C1E licence or an equivalent recognised by the Road Safety Authority, dairy farm assistants, and work riders for racing yards. Waiting staff, bar staff, kitchen assistants, general production and packing operatives, elementary warehouse and storage operatives, general farm workers, and grooms and stable hands are on the ineligible list. Several eligible roles sit behind a quota: care workers and home carers are capped at 1,495 permits from 13 May 2026, DETE's notice of 26 August 2026 asks employers not to submit new meat processing operative applications because that quota is oversubscribed, and hospitality management roles are eligible only within the four separate quotas S.I. 213/2026 established from 13 May 2026 — 100 hotel and accommodation managers, 200 restaurant and catering establishment managers, 50 publicans and managers of licensed premises, and 50 catering and bar managers. Quota positions move, so we confirm whether a specific role qualifies and whether its quota is open during a free eligibility check.
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 employment permit can be issued for them at any salary. The list carves one role out of that code by name: the work rider. A racing yard that needs work riders can apply for a General Employment Permit for them, subject to the Labour Market Needs Test and the salary threshold. The job title and duties on the application decide the outcome, so we check the role with you before anything is advertised.
Allow 6 to 8 months from the first conversation to the worker's start date for a candidate from a visa-required country such as the Philippines. That covers the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test, DETE processing and the visa. A candidate from a non-visa-required country such as Brazil needs no entry visa, so allow about 4 to 5 months. The Critical Skills route carries no Labour Market Needs Test, so it runs shorter again. We give you a realistic timeline for your role before you commit to anything.
If a worker we place leaves your employment within their first 90 days, or you dismiss them for gross misconduct within that period following a fair disciplinary process, we source and place a replacement and waive our recruitment fee for that replacement. The guarantee covers our fee only. DETE permit fees, visa and travel costs are government and third-party charges and are not refunded by us. The full terms are on our 90-day replacement guarantee page.