It's pretty tough to get a work Permit in Ireland- there are laws in place to keep immigrant workers out- like proof that the company went to great lengths to hire an EU national, but couldn't find a suitable one.

Most EU countries have 2nd generation right of return laws- if a grand parent was born there you can citizenship and an EU passport which will allow you to work anywhere any of the EU member states- including UK and Ireland

Mike is right, Ireland has become a pain in the arse for paperwork and "protecting" itself from imgrants but you could always claim citizenship assuming either your parents or in some cases grand parents were from Ireland. However if you don't qualify for either then I would suggest your try getting an "Irish working holiday permit" (check out: www.visafirst.com/Irish_Info.asp). With such a permit you are allowed to work in Ireland for up to a year but you not allowed to stick with the same job for more than three months. This might give you the opportunity to get a feel for Ireland and decide if you want to stay on longer than just one year,... in which case while your here on the holiday working permit you can just start applying for full time jobs and specify that you need a proper working permit. Another way to apply for your own working permit (without the assistance of third party internal companies) would be if you have a specialised qualification, like being a doctor, nurse, IT specialist...something like that...Check out this site: oasis.gov.ie/employment/...thorise.html Anyway, best of luck with trying to get over here...I know how it is as I'm trying to get organised for relocating to Shanghai, China and if ya though Ireland was hard to get into, then guess again!

if you've just graduated, you can do the work in ireland program. that's how i got in and ended up with a full work permit within 4 months