In short: CA Recruitment is a WRC-licensed employment agency working with employers in Wexford town, Enniscorthy, Gorey, New Ross and the rest of the county. We find candidates outside the EEA, the Philippines most often, and run the whole DETE employment permit for you: the eligibility check, the Labour Market Needs Test, the application and the visa. Each placement comes with a 90-day replacement guarantee. Our office is in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, and we have no office in Wexford. The permit system is national and the work is done remotely, so where your business sits makes no difference to the service you get.
Correct as of 5 October 2026. Permit salary thresholds, DETE fees and occupation quotas move during the year, and DETE can close a quota with a single notice on its website. Get in touch and we will check the current position for your role before you spend money on the process.
Recruitment agency Wexford: when the local market has run dry
This page is for Wexford employers rather than job seekers. A vacancy that has stayed open for months is rarely an advertising problem. It is a supply problem, and a conventional agency fishes in the same supply you do: people who already hold the right to work in Ireland.
Wexford's workforce has grown quickly, and employers have used up much of that growth. Census 2022 counted 163,919 people in the county, 9% more than in 2016, and 69,485 residents at work, up 20% in six years. The same census shows a county getting older. Residents aged 65 and over rose by 25% to 27,403, and that demand lands on Wexford's nursing homes, homecare providers and Wexford General Hospital.
Manufacturers are chasing the same technicians. In a Dáil written answer on 21 October 2025, the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment reported 25 IDA client companies in Wexford employing 3,606 people directly. The same answer put employment across 130 Enterprise Ireland client companies in the county at 5,943 in 2024, up from 5,776 the year before. An engineering firm in New Ross or Enniscorthy looking for a maintenance fitter is competing with all of them.
An Irish employment permit opens a far larger pool, and it is a fully legal route. The difficulty is the conditions. The occupation must be eligible and must not appear on DETE's Ineligible List of Occupations. The pay must meet the minimum set for that occupation. Most General Employment Permit roles need a 28-day Labour Market Needs Test first. The 50:50 rule requires at least half your employees to be EEA nationals, with limited exemptions such as start-ups supported by Enterprise Ireland or IDA. Then the application has to be right when it goes in. Most generalist agencies stop short of that work. It is where we start.
Why Wexford employers bring us in instead of a generalist agency
Plenty of recruitment agencies cover Wexford. If your role can be filled from people already living here, one of them may suit you better than we would. We earn our place when it cannot:
- Candidates from outside the EEA. Monette is Filipino and based in Ireland, and she recruits through her own contacts in the Philippines. When a role suits candidates from another country, we recruit there instead. The shortlist you see is people matched to your job, not the output of a database search.
- The permit handled from start to finish. We check the role against DETE's eligible and ineligible lists, set the salary at or above the right threshold, run the Labour Market Needs Test, prepare and file the application, and coordinate the visa and travel. Your part is to review the application and sign the employer declaration.
- A 90-day 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. The guarantee terms set out exactly what is and is not covered.
- Plain answers before you spend anything. Several roles Wexford employers ask us about are ineligible outright, including general farm workers, warehouse operatives, and waiting and bar staff. Others are eligible but capped by a quota that DETE can close at short notice. You hear that on the first call, before any advert runs.
Weighing up agencies for an overseas hire? Our guide to choosing an overseas recruitment agency in Ireland lists the questions to put to any agency, us included. Our guide to recruitment agency terms of business explains what you should have in writing before you sign.
Sectors we recruit for in Wexford
We place workers in any role that qualifies for an Irish employment permit. These are the Wexford roles where that route works, and the ones where it does not:
- Nursing and care: registered nurses for nursing homes, clinics and hospital employers, hired on the Critical Skills route with NMBI registration handled alongside the permit. Healthcare assistants for nursing homes, and care workers and home carers for the homecare and disability services an ageing county depends on. The care roles carry DETE's reduced minimum of €32,691 a year, or €16.12 an hour on a 39-hour week, and care worker and home carer permits are capped at 1,495 from 13 May 2026. Our nursing recruitment agency and care recruitment agency pages go into the detail.
- Farming and horticulture: the CSO's Census of Agriculture 2020 counted 4,330 farms in Wexford, and their median standard output of €31,876 was the second highest of any county, behind Kilkenny. The permit rules divide that sector sharply. Farm worker is on the ineligible list, so a general hand for a tillage, beef or sheep farm cannot be hired on a permit. Dairy farm assistant and pig farm assistant are carved out of that list by name, and pig manager is a separate eligible role; all three qualify for a General Employment Permit at the standard €36,605 threshold. Horticulture workers for the county's growers qualify at the reduced €32,691 rate, within a quota of 971 permits from 13 May 2026. Dairy carries no statutory cap at present: the 850-permit dairy figure that applied from 17 December 2025 was in Schedule 5 of the Regulations, and S.I. 213/2026 replaced that schedule on 13 May 2026 with no dairy row. DETE has issued no notice closing dairy applications between 17 December 2025 and 5 October 2026, and we confirm how DETE is treating dairy applications before you advertise. See our agriculture recruitment agency page.
- Manufacturing and engineering: the roles that qualify are the skilled and technical ones, such as CNC operatives, maintenance fitters, electricians, and technician, engineering and quality control roles, for plants in Wexford town, Enniscorthy and New Ross. Whatever the plant produces, general production and packing operatives stay on the ineligible list. See our manufacturing recruitment agency page.
- Construction: skilled trades for residential and commercial builders across the county. General labourers and site operatives do not qualify. For the named trades, the pay floor is whichever is higher: the DETE permit threshold or the legally binding Sectoral Employment Order rate, which for a craftsperson is €23.74 an hour from 1 August 2026. Our construction recruitment agency page lists the eligible trades.
- Haulage and logistics: HGV drivers with a category CE or C1E licence, or an equivalent the Road Safety Authority recognises under a mutual recognition agreement, for hauliers working out of Rosslare Europort and along the N11 and N25. Van drivers, fork-lift drivers and elementary warehouse and storage operatives cannot get a permit: all three are on the ineligible list. See our logistics recruitment agency page.
- Hospitality: qualified chefs for hotels and restaurants in Wexford town, Rosslare, Courtown and along the coast, from commis chef upwards, each with the minimum experience DETE sets for the grade. Waiting, bar and kitchen-assistant roles are ineligible. Hotel and accommodation managers, restaurant and catering establishment managers, publicans and managers of licensed premises, and catering and bar managers can be hired only within the quotas S.I. 213/2026 set from 13 May 2026: 100, 200, 50 and 50 permits respectively, each needing a new Labour Market Needs Test. See our hospitality recruitment agency page.
- Seafood and meat processing: seafood operatives and fish filleters became eligible under two new quotas from 13 May 2026, of 100 and 50 permits, and both need a new Labour Market Needs Test, which matters to processors supplied through Kilmore Quay. Butchers and boners are eligible within a separate quota of 548. Meat processor operative is eligible at the reduced €32,691 threshold, but DETE's notice of 26 August 2026 reports that quota oversubscribed and asks employers to submit no new applications for now, so we are not taking on meat processor operative applications while that notice stands.
Not sure where your role falls? A free eligibility check confirms it against DETE's lists and tells you whether the quota is still open. Our guide to Irish employment permit quotas in 2026 lists every capped role, and the full set of sectors we cover is on the sectors page.
How hiring through us works for a Wexford business
Employment permits are decided by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (DETE) in one national system, not by a county office, so there is no Wexford version of the process. We are based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, with no office in Wexford, and we work with you by phone, WhatsApp, email and video call. No step needs a visit.
Most roles go through the General Employment Permit, which generally requires a minimum annual salary of €36,605, with the reduced €32,691 floor for the named care, horticulture and meat roles above. Registered nurses and other occupations on the Critical Skills list go through the Critical Skills Employment Permit. We confirm which permit applies, run the Labour Market Needs Test where it is needed, prepare and submit the DETE application, and coordinate the visa and the worker's arrival. Every stage is laid out in our Work Permit Guide for Irish Employers.
Cost and time are the two questions every Wexford employer asks. Our recruitment fee is set in writing before we start, nothing is payable to us until the worker starts, and government charges sit outside it. The largest is DETE's €1,000 fee for a General Employment Permit of six to 24 months. Our guide to the cost of hiring an overseas worker in Ireland breaks down every line, employer PRSI and the salary floor included. On a General Employment Permit, a hire from a visa-required country such as the Philippines takes 6 to 8 months from first call to first day. From a non-visa-required country such as Brazil, it takes about 4 to 5 months. A Critical Skills hire needs no Labour Market Needs Test, so it is quicker.
Recruiting in more than one county? Our overseas recruitment agency page covers the service nationally, and we run the same process for employers in neighbouring Waterford and in Dublin.
Hiring in Wexford? Check eligibility first.
WhatsApp Monette on 089 416 6124 for a free eligibility check. She will tell you whether your Wexford role qualifies, which permit and salary floor apply, whether the quota is open and how long the hire will realistically take. No obligation.
Why Wexford employers work with CA Recruitment
Filipino-Irish owned, based in Ireland
Monette is Filipino and lives in Ireland. Candidates come through her own contacts in the Philippines, and she speaks to each one and checks their qualifications herself.
The permit, managed for you
Each DETE stage has exact requirements, and we handle all of them. You sign the documents and choose from the shortlist.
90-day replacement guarantee
A worker who leaves within 90 days, or is dismissed for gross misconduct in that time, is replaced and our fee for the replacement is waived. It covers our fee, not government costs.
Licensed, with costs in writing
We hold WRC Employment Agency Licence No. EA 5444. Our fee is agreed in writing up front, and government charges are passed on at cost.
Frequently asked questions
No. CA Recruitment is based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, and has no office in Wexford town, Gorey, Enniscorthy, New Ross or anywhere else in the county. Wexford employers deal with us by phone, WhatsApp, email and video call, which is how we work with employers across Ireland. Employment permits are processed nationally by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, so the process involves no local office and nothing that needs us on site. We hold WRC Employment Agency Licence No. EA 5444.
The employer pays the agency, and the fee cannot be passed on to the worker. CA Recruitment sets its fee with you in writing before we begin, and nothing is due to us until the worker has started. Government and third-party charges are separate and are billed to you at cost, never marked up. DETE charges €1,000 for a General Employment Permit lasting six to 24 months and €500 for one of six months or less. On top of that come any Labour Market Needs Test advertising and the worker's visa, travel and medical costs. If DETE refuses the application, it refunds 90% of its fee to the applicant. You see the whole breakdown in writing before you commit.
That depends on what you need done. DETE takes permit applications directly from employers, and nothing obliges you to use an agency to hire from abroad. An agency is worth its fee when it takes on work you cannot do well yourself: finding candidates outside the EEA, checking the role against DETE's eligible and ineligible lists and any quota, setting the salary on the right band, running the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test and filing an application that is right first time. A refusal costs you weeks, the advertising spend and 10% of the DETE fee. A business whose HR team already does all of that will not need us. A Wexford employer with a vacancy that has been open for months and no suitable applicant usually does.
No. Under section 55 of the Employment Permits Act 2024, an employer may not deduct or recover from a permit holder the cost of the permit, the cost of recruiting them, or travel expenses it has already paid. Separately, the Employment Agency Act 1971 bars an Irish employment agency from charging a jobseeker a fee for finding them work. The costs of an overseas hire sit with the employer, and they are real: the DETE fee and the visa costs are not small. That is why we set out every line in writing before you decide.
Any role that qualifies for an Irish employment permit and is not on the Ineligible List of Occupations. In Wexford that usually means registered nurses, healthcare assistants, care workers and home carers; dairy farm assistants, pig farm assistants and horticulture workers; qualified chefs; skilled construction trades; the skilled and technical manufacturing roles such as CNC operatives, maintenance fitters, electricians and QC technicians; and HGV drivers with a category CE or C1E licence or an equivalent the Road Safety Authority recognises. General farm workers, waiting staff, bar staff, kitchen assistants, general production and packing operatives, elementary warehouse and storage operatives, and grooms and stable hands are all on the ineligible list. Several eligible roles are capped. From 13 May 2026 the quotas include 1,495 permits for care workers and home carers, 971 for horticulture workers, 100 for seafood operatives and 50 for fish filleters, and four separate hospitality management quotas of 100, 200, 50 and 50. DETE's notice of 26 August 2026 asks employers to submit no new meat processor operative applications because that quota is oversubscribed. Quotas move, so a free eligibility check is where we confirm both that a role qualifies and that its quota is still open.
Not as general farm workers. Farm worker is on DETE's Ineligible List of Occupations, so no permit can be issued for a general hand on a tillage, beef or sheep farm. The list carves out two farm roles by name, dairy farm assistant and pig farm assistant, and pig manager is a separate eligible role. All three can be hired on a General Employment Permit at the standard €36,605 threshold. Horticulture workers are eligible on a separate basis, at the reduced €32,691 threshold and within a quota of 971 permits from 13 May 2026. What decides it is the job title and duties written into the application, which is why we go through the role with you before any advert runs.
On a General Employment Permit, plan on 6 to 8 months from the first call to the worker's first day when the candidate comes from a visa-required country such as the Philippines. That time covers the 28-day Labour Market Needs Test, DETE processing and the entry visa. A candidate from a country whose nationals need no Irish entry visa, such as Brazil, skips that stage, so allow about 4 to 5 months. A Critical Skills Employment Permit carries no Labour Market Needs Test and runs shorter again. We give you a timeline for your specific 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. The DETE permit fee for the replacement, any new Labour Market Needs Test advertising, and visa and travel costs are third-party charges and are not covered. The full terms, including what falls outside the guarantee, are on our 90-day replacement guarantee page.