New quota of 300 seasonal employment permits set at 32,691 euro minimum

A new quota of 300 seasonal employment permits, at a minimum annual remuneration of 32,691 euro, has been approved under the Employment Permits (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2026, signed as S.I. No. 558 of 2026. The regulations were made by Alan Dillon, Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, and are published in Iris Oifigiúil No. 89 of 6 November 2026, in section I. They amend the Employment Permits Regulations 2024 and are made under the Employment Permits Act 2024 (No. 17 of 2024).

A quota fixed at 300 permits

The official notice states that the regulations provide “a new quota of 300 seasonal employment permits at a minimum annual remuneration of €32,691”. The figure is set out in the official summary of the instrument published with the regulations, which may be cited as the Employment Permits (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2026.

Under the Employment Permits Act 2024, seasonal employment permits are the route used by employers who need workers for short periods of the year, and the statutory instrument fixes both the number of permits available and the pay floor attached to them.

New obligations for approved seasonal employers

Alongside the quota, the regulations expand what an employer must supply when seeking approval as an approved seasonal employer. According to the published notice, the instrument adds to the information and documents required to be provided by an applicant for approval as an approved seasonal employer.

The amending regulations also update three schedules of the 2024 Regulations: Schedule 3, Schedule 4 and Schedule 8.

• Information and documents required of an applicant for approval as an approved seasonal employer are extended.
• A new quota of 300 seasonal employment permits applies, with a minimum annual remuneration of 32,691 euro.
• The position is clarified where an online platform, on which a notice of offer of employment is required to be published, suffers an outage.
• Schedules 3, 4 and 8 of the Employment Permits Regulations 2024 are updated.

Outage rule for published offers of employment

The instrument addresses a practical gap in the application process: where a notice of offer of employment must be published on an online platform and that platform suffers an outage, the regulations clarify the position. The change matters for employers whose approval or permit applications depend on demonstrating that the statutory notice was published.

The regulations were made by the Minister of State in exercise of the powers conferred by a long list of provisions of the Employment Permits Act 2024, running from section 4 to section 63, as adapted by the Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order 2025 (S.I. No. 172 of 2025) and read with the Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) Order 2025 (S.I. No. 240 of 2025). The notice is signed by Declan Hughes, Secretary General of the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment.

Copies of the regulations may be purchased from Government Publications, Mountshannon Road, Kilmainham, Dublin, D08 XA06, at a price of 4.50 euro.

What it means for employers and workers

The instrument raises the volume of seasonal permits available while attaching a defined annual pay floor to them, and it tightens the evidence base an employer must assemble before it can be approved as a seasonal employer. For businesses that recruit seasonally, the practical effect is a larger pool of permits but a heavier documentary burden, with the outage provision offering a route where a mandatory online publication fails.

Source: Iris Oifigiúil, No. 89, 6 November 2026, section I (official reference: S.I. No. 558 of 2026).