Holidays

• 1st January – New Year’s Day
• 17th March – St. Patrick’s Day
• 5th – Easter Monday
• 3rd May – May Bank Holiday (First Monday in May)
• 7th June – June Bank Holiday (First Monday in June)
• 2nd August – August Bank Holiday (First Monday in August)
• 25th October – October Bank Holiday (Last Monday in October)
• 25th December – Christmas Day
• 26th December – St. Stephen’s Day

Where a fixed date public holiday falls on a weekend, there is no legal entitlement for the next working days to be a holiday. If this happens, employee is entitled either to: a paid day off in the same month as a holiday, an extra day of annual leave, an extra day’s pay or the nearest church holiday to the public holiday as a day off.

Paid Time Off

PTO (Paid Time Off)

• Vacation/Annual Paid Leave

The Act provides for a basic annual paid leave entitlement of 4 weeks, although an employee’s contract could give greater rights.

Pay in respect of annual leave is paid in advance at the normal weekly rate.

• Rollovers and payout of unused hours

• Use-it-or-lose-it policy 

Annual leave should be taken within the appropriate leave year or with your consent, within 6 months of the relevant leave year.

Further holding over (also known as carrying-over) of annual leave at the wish of an employee is a matter for agreement between the employee and the employer.

• PTO payout at the termination

Employees are entitled to payment in lieu at the termination. This payment in lieu only applies if employee leave his or her employment up to 15 months after the end of the leave year during which the statutory leave entitlement accrued.

Maternity Leave, Child Raising Leave, Parental Leave

Maternity Leave

Pregnant employees are entitled to up to 26 weeks of maternity leave. Employees are entitled to time off work from full-time, casual or part-time employment, no matter how long they have been working for the employer.

Employees who have enough social insurance (PRSI) contributions are entitled to Maternity Benefit (including self-employed).

Female employees are also entitled to additional 16 weeks of maternity leave, but it is not covered by Maternity Benefit. At least 2 weeks’ maternity leave must be taken before the baby is due, and at least 4 weeks after the baby is born.

Stillbirths and Miscarriages 

If the employees have a stillbirth or miscarriage any time after the 24th week of pregnancy, they are entitled to full maternity leave. This means they are entitled to the basic 26 weeks’ maternity leave and 16 weeks’ additional maternity leave. If they have enough PRSI contributions, they can get Maternity Benefit for the 26 weeks’ basic maternity leave.

Paternity Leave

Fathers are entitled to 2 weeks of paternity leave and can start any time in the first 6 months after the birth or placement in the case of an adoption. Relevant parents are the following: 

• The father of the child
• The partner (spouse, civil partner or cohabitant) of the mother of the child
• The parent of a donor-conceived child

The employer is not required pay employees during paternity leave, but they may qualify for Paternity Benefit.

Parental Leave

Employees can take up to 26 weeks’ parental leave for each eligible child before their 12th birthday. They must have been working for your employer for at least a year to get the full amount of parental leave. Employees must give their employer at least 6 weeks’ notice before taking parental leave.

Employees are eligible to take parental leave if they are relevant parents:

• A parent
• The adoptive parent
• A person acting in loco parentis (this means acting as a parent to the child)

Adoptive Leave

Adoptive leave gives 24 weeks’ leave off work to one parent of the adopting couple or a parent who is adopting alone. The 24 weeks start from the date the child is placed in employee’s care.

The employer is not required to pay during the leave.

Sick Leave

Sick Leave

Employees have no legal right to be paid while they are on sick leave from work. However, employers can decide their own policy on sick leave and may decide to pay employees while you are off sick.

Force Majeure Leave

Employees are entitled to 3 days of leave in any 12-month period or 5 days in a 36-month period for urgent family reasons.

Carer’s Leave

Employees can take carer’s leave for a minimum of 13 weeks and up to a maximum of 104 weeks to to provide full-time care and attention for someone who needs it.

Jury Duty Leave, and Voting Leave

Under the Act while employees are absent from work to comply with a jury summons they are entitled to be paid and should not lose any other employment entitlements or rights.

Bereavement Leave

It is up to an agreement with an employer and their policy.

Military Leave

Not specified by law.

Please consult your local legal counsel to learn more about Ireland Leave Laws.

To learn more about laws in various countries, check out our Leave Laws page.