In short: In 2025 DETE refused 52 employment permit applications from Co. Sligo and issued 218. That refusal rate, 19.3%, was the highest of any county in the State in DETE's 2025 tables and almost double the national 10.0%. CA Recruitment is a WRC-licensed employment agency (Licence No. EA 5444) that recruits from outside the EEA, chiefly the Philippines, and runs the DETE permit from the first eligibility check to the worker's visa. We are based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, with no office in Sligo.
Checked on 12 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.
Sligo's employment permit numbers, 2023 to 2025
DETE publishes every year's permit decisions by county in its permits by county tables. These are Sligo's:
| Year | Permits issued, Sligo | Refused, Sligo | Sligo refusal rate | National refusal rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 220 | 20 | 8.3% | 4.8% |
| 2024 | 244 | 31 | 11.3% | 5.9% |
| 2025 | 218 | 52 | 19.3% | 10.0% |
This is not a one-year blip. Sligo's refusal rate has run at between 1.7 and 1.9 times the national rate in each of the last three years, and in 2025 roughly one decided application in five from the county was turned down. DETE does not publish its reasons by county, so the table cannot tell you why. It does tell you what a refusal costs: DETE keeps 10% of the permit fee, the Labour Market Needs Test advertising is spent, and the weeks are gone. On these numbers, a Sligo employer has more reason than almost anyone to check eligibility, pay and any quota before the advert runs.
Sligo also uses permits less than its size would suggest. The county took 0.7% of the 31,044 permits issued across Ireland in 2025, against 1.4% of the population in Census 2022. Volume has barely moved, between 218 and 244 a year, while the national total rose by more than a quarter and then fell by a fifth.
Most Sligo permit employers hire one or two people
DETE also publishes the name of every company issued a permit, with no county attached. We matched those companies against the Companies Registration Office to find the ones with a registered office in Co. Sligo. A registered office is not always where the work happens, and not every name matches, so treat this as the shape of the picture, not a census. Of the roughly 45 matched Sligo employers that received a permit in 2025, nearly eight in ten received one or two. So the typical Sligo permit employer is filling one or two hard vacancies, not recruiting in bulk.
Why the local pool runs out
Census 2022 put Sligo's population at 70,198, up 7% on 2016, while the number of residents at work rose 17% to 30,360. Residents aged 65 and over rose 21% to 12,903, and the county's average age climbed to 40.7. Human health and social work was already the largest employment sector, at almost 4,600 workers, and an older population means more demand for nurses and carers, not less.
Manufacturing was second, at just over 3,600 workers. 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. A Sligo plant hunting for a maintenance technician is bidding against every one of them.
Which Sligo roles a permit can and cannot fill
- Nursing, healthcare and care: registered nurses come in on the Critical Skills Employment Permit, which can only be applied for once NMBI has registered the nurse. Healthcare assistants qualify for a General Employment Permit, and so do care workers and home carers, within a quota of 1,495 permits from 13 May 2026. The salary floor for all three care roles is €16.12 an hour, which is €32,691 a year on a 39-hour week. See our nursing recruitment agency and care recruitment agency pages.
- Manufacturing and engineering: maintenance fitters, electricians, CNC machinists, process and quality technicians, and engineers. Packing and general production operatives are on the ineligible list. See our manufacturing recruitment agency page.
- Hospitality and tourism: chefs for Sligo town and the coast at Strandhill, Rosses Point and Enniscrone, from commis chef up, where the candidate has the experience DETE expects at that grade. Waiting staff, bar staff and kitchen assistants are ineligible. Hotel, restaurant, licensed-premises and catering and bar managers are eligible only within quotas of 100, 200, 50 and 50 permits from 13 May 2026, each still needing a Labour Market Needs Test. See our hospitality recruitment agency page.
- Construction: qualified building craftspeople such as bricklayers and carpenters, paid at the higher of the DETE threshold and the Construction Sectoral Employment Order rate, which has been €23.74 an hour for a craftsperson since 1 August 2026. Labourers and general site operatives are not eligible. See our construction recruitment agency page.
- Haulage: HGV drivers holding a category CE or C1E licence, or an equivalent the Road Safety Authority recognises, for hauliers on the N4, N15, N16 and N17. Van drivers, fork-lift drivers and elementary warehouse operatives are ineligible. See our logistics recruitment agency page.
- Farming and horticulture: farm worker is an ineligible occupation, so a general hand on a beef or sheep farm cannot get a permit. Dairy farm assistant and pig farm assistant are named exceptions at the standard €36,605 floor. Horticulture workers qualify at €32,691 within a quota of 971 from 13 May 2026. See our agriculture recruitment agency page.
Our 2026 guide to employment permit quotas lists every capped occupation.
How a Sligo hire works with us
There is no county permit office. A Sligo application goes to the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment through the same national process as one from Dublin, and we work by phone, WhatsApp, email and video. Monette, who owns CA Recruitment, is a Filipino national living in Ireland and recruits through her own contacts in the Philippines, looking further afield when a role is better filled elsewhere. We check the occupation, set pay on the right band, run the Labour Market Needs Test, prepare the application and arrange the visa and travel. You review the application and sign the employer declaration.
Our fee is agreed in writing before we start and is not due until the worker has started. DETE's fee is separate: €1,000 for a General Employment Permit of more than six months and up to 24 months. As for timing, a General Employment Permit hire from a visa-required country like the Philippines takes about 6 months from first call to first shift, or about 4 to 5 months where the candidate's country needs no Irish visa, such as Brazil. Every placement carries a 90-day replacement guarantee on our fee. The Work Permit Guide for Irish Employers covers each step, and our cost guide adds up the full bill.
Hiring elsewhere in the north-west? See our Donegal and Mayo pages.
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.
Frequently asked questions
In 2025 DETE refused 52 applications from Co. Sligo and issued 218, a refusal rate of 19.3% of decided applications. That was the highest of any county in the State in DETE's 2025 permits by county tables, against 10.0% nationally. Sligo's rate was 8.3% in 2023 and 11.3% in 2024, between 1.7 and 1.9 times the national rate each year. DETE keeps 10% of the permit fee when it refuses an application.
No. We are based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, and have no office in Sligo town, Tubbercurry, Ballymote, Enniscrone or anywhere else in the county. We work by phone, WhatsApp, email and video call. DETE 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.
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, within a quota of 1,495 permits set from 13 May 2026. 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. 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. Dairy farm assistant and pig farm assistant are carved out of that exclusion by name and can be hired on a General Employment Permit at the standard €36,605 minimum. Horticulture workers are eligible at €32,691 a year, within a quota of 971 permits from 13 May 2026. The duties in 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 about 6 months from first call to first shift. That covers the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test, DETE processing and the Irish entry visa. Candidates from countries whose citizens need no Irish entry visa, Brazil among them, skip 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. You get a timeline for your own role before you sign anything.