Employment Permits Online is offline after a data breach: what it means for your permit

In short: The Department of Enterprise took the Employment Permits Online portal offline on 29 October 2026 after it found suspicious unauthorised activity. It is still offline and there is no date for it to return. Applications already submitted are still being processed and decided. New applications can't be submitted online for now, and the Department says it is finalising temporary arrangements. It also says it will show flexibility where the outage affects time limits, renewals and adverts.

This update is for employers with staff on employment permits or applications in progress, and for permit holders already working in Ireland. We will update it when the Department publishes new information.

What happened

On 29 October 2026 the Department said it had found “suspicious unauthorised activity” on the portal and a security vulnerability. It took the portal offline as a precaution and stopped new registrations.

The Department first expected the portal back on 3 November. On 2 November it said that would not happen, and that it will only reopen the portal once security measures, testing and independent checks are complete.

The Department says it has:

• removed access from administrator accounts it suspects were compromised, and restricted the rest
• added firewall restrictions to its administrative systems
• brought in independent cybersecurity specialists
• notified the Data Protection Commission, and sent it a further update

What information was affected

The Department’s first notice said names, email addresses and account roles (employer, agent or employee) might have been exposed.

Its update on 5 November narrowed this. For most users, it says the information downloaded was limited to the first names and surnames of people who registered or applied. It says email addresses and account roles were not downloaded. A very small number of accounts are still under separate investigation, and the Department is contacting the people affected directly.

Its early findings were that more sensitive personal information was not affected.

Applications already submitted

Situation	What the Department says
Application submitted before the portal went offline	Still being processed. Decisions are still being issued and you will still get updates.
Draft applications, or applications waiting for the fee	Still there when the portal comes back.
New applications	Can’t be submitted online for now. Temporary arrangements are being finalised.

Processing inside the Department is continuing, so the processing times still give a fair idea of when an application already in the queue will be reached.

Time limits, renewals and adverts

Many permit steps run against a clock, and the outage has stopped people meeting some of them. The Department says it will give appropriate flexibility to:

• applications that may go past the 28-day submission period because of the outage
• renewal applications affected by the outage
• Labour Market Needs Test advertising requirements affected by the outage

It hasn’t yet said exactly how that flexibility will work. Until it does:

• Keep proof of your dates. Save copies of your JobsIreland and second adverts with their start and end dates, and your signed contract, so you can show what was ready before or during the outage.
• Watch permit expiry dates. If a permit is due to expire soon, note when the renewal window opened and when you were ready to apply.
• Don’t rerun adverts yet just because the 90-day window is passing. Wait for the Department’s arrangements, or ask us first.

Where we come in: we are keeping applications ready to go for our clients, with documents checked and signed, so they can be submitted as soon as the portal reopens or the temporary arrangements are published. We are also keeping a note of every affected advert date and expiry date, so we can ask for the Department’s flexibility with the evidence to hand.

Watch out for scam emails, texts and calls

Breaches like this are often followed by scam messages that use real names to look genuine. The Department says:

• be careful with unexpected emails, texts or calls about permits, accounts, applications or payments
• don’t click links or open attachments you weren’t expecting
• never give passwords or personal details, including copies of ID, in reply to a message you didn’t ask for
• check any request using the Department’s official contact details

The Department says it will never ask you for personal information by email or text.

Where we come in: if you get a message about your permit and aren’t sure it is real, forward it to us and we’ll tell you. We will never ask you for a portal password.

Contacts at the Department

Question	Email
About the incident	[email protected]
Urgent permit queries	[email protected]
Data protection	[email protected]

How Work Permit Consultants can help

Work Permit Consultants has prepared employment permit applications since 2007, and our team’s background includes work permit policy at the Department of Enterprise. While the portal is down, we can:

• check where your application stands and what the Department has said about it
• get new applications ready so they go in the moment submissions reopen
• keep a record of advert, contract and expiry dates affected by the outage
• ask the Department for flexibility on time limits, renewals and adverts where you need it
• tell you if a message is genuine before you reply to it

Worried about an application, a renewal or an advert running out? Get a free assessment or send us a message.