Common law. Member of the EU and required to implement relevant EU directives. The official currency is the Euro (EUR). The official language is English.

A foreign entity may engage employees in Ireland if it has proper payroll registrations, subject to business and corporate tax planning considerations. Through the payroll, withholdings should be made on any remuneration, including benefits in kind, payable to the employees in Ireland, for income tax up to 40 percent, the Universal Social Charge up to 8 percent and social insurance contribution (PRSI) up to 11.15 percent for the employer and 4.1 percent for the employee. PRSI contribution rates will increase by 0.1 percent from October 1, 2025. Self-employed independent contractors are generally paid gross and are responsible for their own taxation.

Required

Immigration compliance and right to work. Criminal record checks are permissible only in limited circumstances (eg, for those who work with children, with vulnerable adults and in security).

Permissible

Reference and education checks are common and permissible with applicant consent.

Ireland is required to transpose the EU Pay Transparency Directive in national law by June 2026. Once transposed, employers will be required to provide the salary range on job advertisements, and will be prohibited from requesting candidates to provide current or previous remuneration rates. 

Nationals of the European Economic Area (EEA), UK and Switzerland have the right to work in Ireland. Other nationals require permission to work via an employment permit.

Employee

Indefinite, fixed-term, full-time or part-time. Part-time and fixed-term employees have the right not to be discriminated against on the basis of their status.

Independent contractor

Independent contractors may be engaged directly by the company or via a personal services company. Engagement may be subject to misclassification exposure, where they take on the characteristics of an employee.

Agency workers

Agency workers are common. Agency workers have the right to equal treatment to employees in relation to pay, working hours and other benefits.

Employment contracts

Within 5 days of commencement of employment, an employer must provide the employee with a written statement of core terms of employment. Other minimum terms must be given within 1 month of commencement of employment The implementation of the EU Pay Transparency Directive into Irish law (which must be complete by June 2026) will include measures prohibiting pay secrecy clauses.

Probationary periods

Permissible. Should not exceed 6 months but can be extended to up to 12 months in exceptional circumstances if it is in the interest of the employee. 3 to 6 months is common. For fixed-term employees, the probationary period should be proportional to the term.

Policies

A written health and safety policy, disciplinary and bullying and harassment policies and procedures are mandatory. Grievance and IT-related policies are common and recommended.

Third-party approval

There is no 3rd-party approval requirement in Ireland.

No statutory requirement. Usually provided in English. Should be in a language the employee can understand.

Employees entitled to minimum employment rights

Working hours

Working time is limited to 48 hours per week calculated over a 4-month period, subject to certain exceptions. Rules on rest breaks, night work and rest periods between shifts also apply. Zero-hour contracts are prohibited in most circumstances, and banded-hours contracts may be enforced for employees whose contracted hours do not reflect their actual hours worked.

Overtime

As long as overall pay does not fall below the statutory minimum, there is no obligation to provide pay for overtime worked. A premium must be paid for Sunday work, unless the fact that the individual must work on a Sunday has already been taken into account in determining pay.

Wages

The National Minimum Wage increased from EUR12.70 per hour to EUR13.50 per hour from January 1, 2025. 19 year olds are entitled to EUR12.15, 18 year olds are entitled to EUR10.80 and those under 18 are entitled to EUR9.45.

Vacation

There are 10 public holidays. Employees are further entitled to:

Annual leave entitlement is based on hours worked:

• 4 working weeks in a leave year in which the employee works at least 1,365 hours or
• 1/3 of a working week for each month in the leave year in which the employee works at least 117 hours or
• 8 percent of the hours the employee wok in a leave year (subject to a maximum of 4 weeks). 

Sick leave & pay

Employees with at least 13 weeks’ service are entitled to 5 days’ sick pay a year. The number of statutory sick days available to employees will increase incrementally to 10 by 2026. Sick pay is paid by the employer at 70 percent of the employee’s normal pay, up to a maximum of EUR110 a day.

Maternity/parental leave & pay

26 weeks’ ordinary maternity leave, during which the employee may be entitled to maternity benefit from the state, plus 16 additional weeks during which no state benefit is payable. General right to return to work.

24 weeks’ ordinary adoptive leave, during which the employee may be entitled to adoptive benefit from the state, plus 16 additional weeks during which no state benefit is payable. General right to return to work.

26 weeks’ unpaid parental leave to be taken before the child reaches the age of 12.

2 weeks’ paternity leave, during which the employee may be entitled to paternity benefit from the state. This entitlement applies to any parent who is a "relevant parent" – the child's father; the spouse, civil partner or cohabitant of the child's mother; or adopting mother or sole male adopter, as well as parents of a donor-conceived child. Same-sex couples jointly adopting a child must choose 1 parent to be the "relevant parent."

9 weeks’ parent’s leave for a child born or adopted on or after August 2, 2022. May only be taken within 2 years of the birth of the child or in the 1st 2 years of adoption. The employee may be entitled to maternity benefit from the state. This entitlement applies to any parent who is a "relevant parent" – a parent; or the spouse, civil partner or cohabitant of the parent; or the adopting parent or parents; or the civil partner or spouse of the child's adopting parent (if the parents have not adopted jointly), as well as a parent of a donor-conceived child.

Other leave/time off work

Employees may also be entitled to leave for jury service, carer’s leave, force majeure leave, leave for the purposes of providing medical care and domestic violence leave.

Direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, victimization and harassment are prohibited. Employers are under a duty to make reasonable adjustments for persons with disabilities.

Characteristics protected from unlawful discrimination and harassment include gender, age, race/nationality, religion, family status, civil status, disability, sexual orientation and/or membership of the Traveler community.

The EU Whistleblower Protection Directive has been implemented in Ireland, which significantly expands the scope of the protections for those who make protected disclosures and places enhanced obligations on organizations.

Currently there are no compulsory benefits beyond those covered by social insurance contributions. However, pension auto-enrollment is due to be implemented from the 1 January 2026. Under the auto-enrollment scheme, any employees aged between 23-66, earning €20,000 or more per year, who are not part of a pension plan will be automatically enrolled in the government scheme. The initial contribution rates are set at 1.5% each for the employee and employer and 0.5% for the State, however, these are due to rise incrementally over a period of 10 years to 6% for employee and employer and 2% from the State.

To be exempt from auto-enrollment, the employee will need to be part of a pension plan into which both the employee and employer contributes.

Ireland is subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which places significant obligations and onerous sanctions for employers. GDPR requires employers to identify a legal basis for their processing of personal data, and it is unlikely that a catch-all consent will enable processing of employee data by an employer. Employers must ensure that they have GDPR-compliant documentation and that they are able to deal with the new rules on subject access requests. There continue to be significant restrictions on monitoring employees, including email and internet use.

The European Communities (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations transpose the Acquired Rights Directive and provide for automatic transfer of employees with undertakings – or parts of undertakings – which retain their identity post-transfer.

On a business transfer, there is also a duty to inform and consult with employee representatives and a prohibition on transfer-related dismissals, unless dismissal is justified on economic, technical or organizational grounds.

Trade unions are prevalent in the manufacturing, transport and public sectors. Many businesses have no union or other worker representation, and works councils are uncommon. Industry-level collective bargaining exists.

No right of recognition for a trade union.

Grounds

Termination permissible, if a fair process has been followed, on the following grounds: misconduct, capability (including performance and ill health), redundancy, illegality and "some other substantial ground of a kind to justify dismissal."

Employees subject to termination laws

Employees with less than 1 years' service have limited protection against unfair dismissal.  Employee protections exist for dismissals which do not have a minimum length of service requirement, including:  dismissals for whistleblowing, dismissals based on discriminatory grounds or trade union membership and activities.

Dismissals for misconduct, including in the 1st year, must follow a proper process. The contract of employment should be reviewed prior to any termination.

Restricted or prohibited terminations

Transfer-related dismissals are void unless justified on economic, technical or organizational grounds.

Third-party approval for termination/termination documents

• 0 to 13 weeks: none

• 13 weeks to 2 years: 1 week
• 2 years to 5 years: 2 weeks
• 5 years to 10 years: 4 weeks
• 10 years to 15 years: 6 weeks
• 15 years or more: 8 weeks

Notice is not required for terminations for gross (ie, extremely serious) misconduct. Longer notice may be agreed and set out in the contract of employment.

Mass layoff rules

Strict information and consultation rules apply in certain collective redundancy situations. The employer must also notify the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

Notice

Statutory minimum notice requirements:

• 0 to 13 weeks: none
• 13 weeks to 2 years: 1 week
• 2 years to 5 years: 2 weeks
• 5 years to 10 years: 4 weeks
• 10 years to 15 years: 6 weeks
• 15 years or more: 8 weeks

Notice is not required for terminations for gross (ie, extremely serious) misconduct. Longer notice may be agreed and set out in the contract of employment.

Statutory right to pay in lieu of notice or garden leave

There is no statutory right or entitlement to either pay in lieu or garden leave; Both can be (and it is recommended that they are) provided for in the employment contract.

Severance

Severance is payable only to redundant employees with 2 years' service at the rate of 2 weeks' pay per year of service plus an additional week's pay. "Pay" is capped at EUR600 per week. More generous terms are possible and quite common.

Considered in restraint of trade and void. However, those that protect the employer’s legitimate business interests may be enforced if reasonable. Restraints must be tailored for the specific business and the risks posed by the employee. Garden leave is common for senior employees.

Non-competes

Permissible in narrow, justifiable circumstances. Typical duration is no longer than 3 to 6 months with an absolute maximum of 12 months, depending on the circumstances. The geographical area must also be reasonable and not be extensive.

Customer non-solicits

Permissible in specific circumstances. Typical duration is no longer than 3 to 6 months with an absolute maximum of 12 months, depending on the circumstances. The geographical area must also be reasonable and not be extensive.

Employee non-solicits

Permissible. Length of restriction depends on the circumstances but generally should not be longer than 12 months. 

Enforceable, but employees must have been advised to and afforded the opportunity to take independent legal advice prior to signing a settlement agreement waiving employment rights.

Recent legislation has limited the use of non-disclosure agreements in certain circumstances. With some limited exceptions, any agreement, or provision in an agreement, which purports to preclude the disclosure of information relating to the making of an allegation of discrimination, victimization, harassment or sexual harassment and any action taken by the employer or employee in response to that allegation, shall be null and void.

Discrimination

The Workplace Relations Commission may order re-engagement, re-instatement or award compensation of up to 2 years' remuneration.

Unfair dismissal

The Workplace Relations Commission may order re-engagement, re-instatement or award compensation of up to 2 years' remuneration. Claimant is under a duty to mitigate loss.

For a transfer-related dismissal, compensation is not limited to financial loss and may be punitive.

In whistleblowing dismissals, compensation may be up to 5 years' remuneration.

Failure to inform and consult

In the context of a mass redundancy, failure to inform and consult may amount to a criminal offense In the context of a business transfer, such failure can result in up to 4 weeks' pay per complaining employee.

Failure to notify the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment about mass layoffs is a criminal offense, although prosecution is rare. Employing a non-EEA, Swiss or UK national without the required work permit is also a criminal offense. Failure to provide employees with a written statement containing 5 core terms of employment within 5 days of them commencing employment is also a criminal offense.