Meath-based recruitment company Protential Resources has announced its expansion into Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Moldova to meet demand for workers in the meat processing, dairy, horticulture and equine sectors.

Protential Resources says that its “intensive recruitment campaign in Brazil” sourced 500 staff through the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation (DBEI) work permits scheme.

This expansion initiative will give our clients greater options, the confidence to grow existing markets and forge new ones

Protential has also recruited 315 people from Europe in the same period for meat processors and ancillary sectors, however it has become increasingly difficult to recruit for this sector from within the EU, the company said.

“This expansion initiative will give our clients greater options, the confidence to grow existing markets and forge new ones, knowing that they will be able to meet increased production needs,” Protential director Martin Frayne said.

Addressing the dairy labour challenge

Recruiters look to new countries for agricultural workers

Protential Resources is one of a number of Irish companies recruiting agricultural workers from outside the EU to meet demand from dairy farms and meat processing companies.