In short: CA Recruitment is a WRC-licensed employment agency recruiting for employers in Sligo town, Tubbercurry, Ballymote, Enniscrone and across Co. Sligo. We recruit outside the EEA, mostly in the Philippines, and manage the DETE employment permit on your behalf: eligibility, the Labour Market Needs Test, the application itself and the worker's visa. A 90-day replacement guarantee comes with every placement. We are based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, and have no Sligo office. Permits are decided nationally and we work with clients remotely, so a business in Sligo gets exactly the same service as one next door to us.
Correct as of 6 October 2026. DETE salary thresholds, permit fees and occupation quotas change during the year, and a quota can close overnight with one notice on the Department's website. Contact us and we will confirm where your role stands today, before you commit any money to the process.
Recruitment agency Sligo: why local hiring stops working
This page is written for Sligo employers, not job seekers. When a vacancy stays open for months, a better advert rarely fixes it. The people simply are not there, and a conventional agency is recruiting from the same group you are: people already entitled to work in Ireland.
Sligo has added workers faster than it has added people. Census 2022 put the county's population at 70,198, up 7% on 2016, while the number of residents at work rose 17% to 30,360. Employers have already drawn on most of that slack. The same census found residents aged 65 and over up 21% to 12,903, with the county's average age climbing to 40.7. Human health and social work was already the largest employment sector in Sligo, at almost 4,600 workers, and an older population means more demand for nurses and carers, not less.
Manufacturing was the second-largest sector, at just over 3,600 workers, and the state agencies' client firms keep adding jobs. IDA Ireland had 27 client companies in Sligo employing 2,860 people at the end of 2025, according to a Dáil written answer of 25 February 2026. In a Dáil reply in February 2025, the Minister for Enterprise put employment in Enterprise Ireland-supported companies in the county at 2,377, with 246 jobs created there in 2024. A Sligo plant hunting for a maintenance technician is bidding against every one of those firms.
Recruiting under an Irish employment permit reaches far beyond that pool, and it is entirely lawful. The catch is the conditions attached. The occupation has to be eligible and absent from DETE's Ineligible List of Occupations. The salary has to clear the minimum for that occupation. Most General Employment Permit roles must first pass a 28-day Labour Market Needs Test. Under the 50:50 rule, at least half your workforce must be EEA nationals, with narrow exceptions such as start-ups backed by Enterprise Ireland or IDA. And the application has to be complete and correct when it is lodged. A generalist agency usually stops before any of that. For us it is the core of the job.
What a Sligo employer gets from us that a generalist agency does not offer
Sligo is not short of recruitment agencies, and if your vacancy can be filled from people already living in Ireland, a local generalist may be the better call. Where we come in is the vacancy the Irish market cannot fill:
- Recruitment beyond the EEA. Monette, who owns CA Recruitment, is Filipino and lives in Ireland. She recruits through her own network in the Philippines, and through other countries when a role suits them better. You receive candidates picked for your vacancy, not a list pulled from a database.
- The whole permit, handled. We confirm the occupation against DETE's lists, set the salary on the right band, run the Labour Market Needs Test, draft and lodge the application, and arrange the visa and travel. You check the application and sign the employer's declaration.
- Our fee is protected for 90 days. 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 is covered and what is not.
- A straight answer on the first call. Some roles Sligo employers ring us about cannot get a permit at all: general farm workers, waiting and bar staff, and warehouse operatives among them. Others qualify but sit under a quota DETE can close with little warning. We tell you which applies before any advert is placed.
Comparing agencies before an overseas hire? Our guide to choosing an overseas recruitment agency in Ireland sets out the questions any agency should be able to answer, us included.
Sectors we recruit for in Sligo
Any role that qualifies for an Irish employment permit is one we can recruit for. These are the Sligo sectors where the route works, and where it stops:
- Nursing, healthcare and care: the county's largest employment sector by headcount. Registered nurses for hospitals, nursing homes and clinics come in on the Critical Skills Employment Permit, and we run the NMBI registration alongside it. Healthcare assistants for nursing homes and hospital employers qualify for a General Employment Permit, and so do care workers and home carers for homecare and disability services, subject to a quota of 1,495 permits from 13 May 2026. All three care roles carry the reduced €32,691 annual floor, which works out at €16.12 an hour over a 39-hour week. More on our nursing recruitment agency and care recruitment agency pages.
- Manufacturing and engineering: the county's second-largest sector. The roles a permit can cover are skilled and technical ones: maintenance fitters, electricians, CNC machinists, process and quality technicians, and engineers. Packing and general production operatives remain on the ineligible list, whatever the factory makes. See our manufacturing recruitment agency page.
- Hospitality and tourism: chefs for hotels, restaurants and cafés in Sligo town and along the coast at Strandhill, Rosses Point and Enniscrone, at any grade from commis chef up, provided the candidate has the experience DETE requires for that grade. Waiting staff, bar staff and kitchen assistants cannot get a permit. Hotel and accommodation managers, restaurant and catering establishment managers, publicans and managers of licensed premises, and catering and bar managers are eligible only within the quotas set 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 tradespeople for builders working on homes and commercial jobs around the county. Labourers and general site operatives are not eligible. For the eligible trades, pay must meet whichever is higher of the DETE threshold and the Sectoral Employment Order rate, which for a craftsperson has been €23.74 an hour since 1 August 2026. Our construction recruitment agency page lists the trades that qualify.
- Haulage: HGV drivers holding a category CE or C1E licence, or an equivalent the Road Safety Authority recognises, for hauliers running the N4, N15, N16 and N17. Van drivers, fork-lift drivers and elementary warehouse operatives are all on the ineligible list. See our logistics recruitment agency page.
- Farming and horticulture: farm worker is an ineligible occupation, so a permit cannot be issued for a general hand on a beef or sheep farm. Dairy farm assistant and pig farm assistant are named exceptions to that rule and qualify at the standard €36,605 threshold. Horticulture workers qualify at €32,691 within a quota of 971 permits from 13 May 2026. Our agriculture recruitment agency page explains where each farm role falls.
Unsure about your own role? A free eligibility check tests it against DETE's lists and confirms whether any quota on it is still open. Every capped occupation is listed in our guide to Irish employment permit quotas in 2026, and the sectors page covers everything else we recruit for.
How the process runs for a Sligo business
The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (DETE) decides every employment permit through a single national system. No county office is involved, and the steps are the same in Sligo as in Dublin. We work from Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, without a Sligo office, and handle everything by phone, WhatsApp, email and video call. Nothing in the process needs us on your premises.
Most of the roles above go through the General Employment Permit. Its usual minimum salary is €36,605 a year, falling to €32,691 for the named care and horticulture roles. Registered nurses and other Critical Skills occupations take the Critical Skills Employment Permit instead. We decide which permit fits, run the Labour Market Needs Test where one is required, prepare and file the DETE application, and arrange the visa and the worker's arrival. Our Work Permit Guide for Irish Employers walks through each stage.
Every Sligo employer wants to know two things: what it costs and how long it takes. Our fee is agreed in writing up front and nothing is due to us before the worker starts. Government charges are separate, and the largest is DETE's €1,000 fee for a General Employment Permit lasting six to 24 months. The full cost, including employer PRSI and the salary floor, is broken down in our guide to the cost of hiring an overseas worker in Ireland. As for time, a General Employment Permit hire from a visa-required country such as the Philippines runs 6 to 8 months from first contact to first day, or about 4 to 5 months from a country such as Brazil whose citizens need no Irish visa. Critical Skills hires skip the Labour Market Needs Test and finish sooner.
Hiring across the north-west? We recruit on the same terms for employers in Donegal and Mayo, and our overseas recruitment agency page describes the service nationally.
Hiring in Sligo? Find out if the role qualifies.
Send Monette a WhatsApp on 089 416 6124 for a free eligibility check. She will confirm whether your Sligo vacancy can be filled on a permit, which permit and salary floor apply, whether any quota is still open, and a realistic start date. There is no obligation.
Why Sligo employers choose CA Recruitment
Filipino-Irish owned and Irish-based
Monette is a Filipino national living in Ireland. She sources candidates through people she knows in the Philippines, interviews each one and checks their credentials personally.
Permit paperwork off your desk
DETE sets precise requirements at every stage, and meeting them is our job. Yours is to pick from the shortlist and sign.
90-day replacement guarantee
If the worker leaves inside 90 days, or is dismissed for gross misconduct in that period, we replace them without charging our fee again. Government costs are not included.
Licensed, every cost in writing
WRC Employment Agency Licence No. EA 5444. You agree our fee in writing before we start, and government charges pass through at cost.
Frequently asked questions
No. We have no office in Sligo town, Tubbercurry, Ballymote, Enniscrone or anywhere else in the county. CA Recruitment is based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary. Sligo employers work with us over the phone, on WhatsApp, by email and on video calls, the same way our clients in every other county do. The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment decides employment permits centrally, so no step in the process depends on where the agency sits. Our WRC Employment Agency Licence number is EA 5444.
When you hire on an employment permit, the employer pays the agency, and section 55 of the Employment Permits Act 2024 bars you from recovering recruitment costs from the worker. Ours is agreed with you in writing before any work starts, and you pay nothing to us until the worker is on your premises and working. Government and third-party costs are kept separate from our fee and passed on at exactly what they cost. The biggest is the DETE fee: €1,000 for a General Employment Permit of six to 24 months, or €500 if the permit runs six months or less. Advertising for the Labour Market Needs Test, where the role needs one, and the worker's visa, travel and medical costs come on top. DETE returns 90% of its fee if it refuses an application. Every line is set out in writing before you agree to anything.
Sometimes it is not. An employer can apply to DETE for a permit directly, and no rule says an agency must be involved. What you pay an agency for is the work that is hard to do in-house: reaching candidates in another country, confirming the occupation is eligible and its quota still open, pitching the salary on the correct band, running the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test properly, and lodging an application DETE will not send back. Get one of those wrong and you lose weeks, the advertising money and a tenth of the permit fee. If your own team handles all that already, keep it in-house. If a Sligo role has sat unfilled for months with nobody suitable applying, that is the situation we are built for.
Yes. Registered nurses are on the Critical Skills Occupations List, so they come in on a Critical Skills Employment Permit with no Labour Market Needs Test, and they must register with NMBI before working as nurses. Healthcare assistants qualify for a General Employment Permit. Care workers and home carers also qualify, but within a quota of 1,495 permits set from 13 May 2026. Healthcare assistants, care workers and home carers all carry the reduced salary floor of €32,691 a year, which is €16.12 an hour on a 39-hour week. We confirm the quota is still open before any advert goes up.
Only for particular roles. Farm worker is on DETE's Ineligible List of Occupations, which rules out a permit for a general hand on a beef or sheep holding. Two farm roles are carved out of that exclusion by name: dairy farm assistant and pig farm assistant. Both can be hired on a General Employment Permit at the standard €36,605 minimum. Horticulture workers are eligible too, at €32,691 a year and within a quota of 971 permits from 13 May 2026. The duties written into the job description decide which side of the line a role falls, so we agree the wording with you before anything is advertised.
For a General Employment Permit hire from a visa-required country such as the Philippines, allow 6 to 8 months from our first conversation to the worker's first shift. That covers the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test, DETE's processing queue and the Irish entry visa. Candidates from countries whose citizens do not need an Irish entry visa, Brazil among them, avoid the visa stage, and the hire usually takes about 4 to 5 months. Critical Skills roles need no Labour Market Needs Test, so they move faster than either. You get a timeline for your own role before you sign anything.
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. It applies to our fee and nothing else. A new DETE permit fee, any fresh Labour Market Needs Test advertising, and the replacement's visa and travel are third-party costs the guarantee does not cover. Read the full conditions on our 90-day replacement guarantee page.