How to hire in Ireland through an EOR

Irish law requires you to give new hires a written statement of key terms within five days of starting, and a fuller set within one month. Most companies use indefinite duration contracts because they're the default for ongoing roles and help you avoid fixed-term renewal complications.

Contract types

For most hires, indefinite contracts are the straightforward choice. They're open-ended and easier to manage over time. Fixed-term contracts come with strict rules once you hit four years of renewals.

Zero-hours contracts are mostly banned, with narrow exceptions for emergencies, short absences, or genuine casual work. Agency contracts route through recruiters, but employee rights still apply at client sites after a certain period.

What has to be in the contract

Contracts can technically be oral, but put everything in writing to avoid disputes later. The law requires a written statement of core terms within five days: your name and theirs, start date (including prior service), pay rate and frequency, hours (normal and overtime), annual leave details, sick pay, pension info, job title or duties, and work location.

Full contracts typically add notice periods, confidentiality clauses, and IP terms. There's no language requirement beyond English or Irish being standard. Probation maxes out at six months in most cases and can't be restarted on fixed-term renewals for the same role. During probation you can end employment with shorter notice, but if total service exceeds 12 months you'll need to state reasons to avoid dismissal claims.

Contractor vs employee

Courts look at control: if you dictate how, when, and where work happens, that person is likely an employee, not a contractor. Other indicators include you providing tools, exclusivity arrangements, integration into your team, and the worker having no real financial risk. Revenue's code of practice covers this in detail. If it looks borderline, treat the person as an employee.

Misclassify someone and you could owe back PAYE taxes, USC, your 11.05% employer PRSI contribution, plus penalties. Employees can also claim unpaid holiday pay, the minimum wage (€12.70/hour), and unfair dismissal after 12 months. Courts can award years of retroactive benefits, and fines can run into thousands per violation.

Non-competes are hard to enforce in Ireland. They need to protect a legitimate interest like client lists, be limited in time and geography (often 3-12 months at most), and courts will scrutinize them closely. IP assignment can work if it's reasonable. Employees own their inventions by default unless the contract says otherwise, though you can claim work-related ones. Make sure the contract reflects how the role actually works, or it's unlikely to hold up.

Ireland's leave and benefits setup is more generous than many countries, but there's a real gap between what the law requires and what actually attracts good candidates. Here's what you need to know before making an offer.

Annual leave: the calculation matters more than the headline number

The statutory entitlement looks simple: four weeks of paid annual leave per year. But how you calculate it depends on the employee's work pattern, and you must use whichever method gives them the most leave.

For full-time employees working at least 1,365 hours in a leave year (April 1 to March 31), they get four working weeks. For part-time or irregular workers, you calculate using either one-third of a working week per month (if they work at least 117 hours that month) or 8% of total hours worked, capped at four weeks. Employees accrue leave monthly during their first year, rounded up to the nearest half day.

One change worth noting from April 2024: employers can now use "rolled-up" holiday pay for irregular-hours workers. That means you can pay holiday entitlement as part of regular wages rather than when time off is actually taken, which simplifies payroll for casual staff.

Public holidays are separate from annual leave. Employees get nine statutory public holidays per year, but only if they've worked at least 40 hours in the five weeks before the holiday. They're entitled to either the day off with pay or an alternative day off plus an extra day's pay.

Leave types: what's protected and what's paid

Mandatory benefits: what the law requires

Employers must contribute to social security (PRSI) at 10.8% of gross wages for most employees. Employees contribute 4%, or 8% for higher earners. There's no mandatory employer-provided health insurance or pension, though if you have five or more employees you must offer access to a workplace pension scheme.

Ireland doesn't require meal vouchers or transport allowances at the national level, though larger employers and certain sectors commonly include them.

What actually attracts people: the expectation gap

The statutory minimum won't get you far if you're competing for experienced candidates. Here's what most Irish employees expect when they're weighing up an offer.

Health insurance. Private health cover is close to standard for professional roles. Employees expect employers to cover 50-100% of premiums. Without it, you'll lose candidates to employers who do offer it.

Pension contributions. Not legally required, but employers typically contribute 3-5% of salary. In tech and finance, that often goes up to 5-8%.

Paid sick leave. Three days is the statutory floor. Most employers pay for at least five to ten days, and many offer unlimited sick leave for salaried staff.

Flexible working. Remote options or flexible hours are now expected, not a bonus. Candidates will ask about this before they accept.

Additional annual leave. Many employers offer 25-30 days rather than the legal 20, particularly for senior or professional roles.

If you're hiring in Ireland and only offering the legal minimum, it signals that you're not familiar with the local market. A competitive package typically includes private health insurance, a pension contribution, and at least five extra days of annual leave on top of the statutory four weeks.

Firing someone in Ireland just got riskier. From day one of employment, employees can claim unfair dismissal - no two-year wait required anymore. You'll need clear, fair grounds and a proper process, or you could face compensation of up to two years' pay.

Valid grounds include capability (lateness or absence), competence (not meeting standards), qualifications shortfall, redundancy, a legal barrier to keeping them on, or other substantial reasons. Gross misconduct like theft can justify skipping notice, but you still need to show warnings were given and the employee had a chance to respond. Protected categories under equality law include gender, age, disability, race, religion, and sexual orientation - discrimination claims can run alongside unfair dismissal claims.

Ireland is employee-friendly. Tribunals expect natural justice: warn, let the person respond, allow an appeal. From October 2026, the window to bring a claim doubles to six months, which extends your exposure. Fire-and-rehire to force contract changes also becomes automatically unfair from October 2026, unless your business faces genuine financial collapse and you can prove it.

Notice periods

You must give statutory notice or pay in lieu. Employees give the same notice back. If someone's been with you less than 13 weeks, no notice is required on either side. Here's how it scales:

Contracts can set longer notice periods, but not shorter than the statutory minimums. Keep employee statements on file for at least one year after termination.

Severance

Statutory redundancy pay applies after 104 weeks of continuous service, for employees over age 16. The formula is 2 weeks' pay per year of service, plus 1 extra week's pay, capped at €600 per week. There's no cap on total years counted, but the weekly limit applies throughout.

Severance isn't required for gross misconduct or voluntary resignations. If you're making redundancies, you'll need to show the role genuinely no longer exists and that selection was fair. Collective redundancies require early consultation - if you get that wrong, courts can award compensation based on proven employee loss. From April 2026, penalties may increase, but Ireland sets its own rules independently of the UK.

Work permits and visas

You can hire foreign nationals through an EOR. The EOR acts as the legal employer and sponsors the permit. The two main categories are the Critical Skills Employment Permit, for high-demand roles in areas like tech and healthcare (minimum salary of €38,000 or €64,000 depending on the skills shortage list), and the General Employment Permit for other roles, which requires a minimum salary of €30,000.

You'll need a job offer, a labor market test showing no suitable Irish or EEA candidate was available, and a qualifications match. Processing typically takes 8 to 12 weeks. The EOR handles sponsorship and renewals every 2 years, and employees can apply for Stamp 4 (which leads to permanent residency) after 21 to 60 months depending on permit type. There's no digital nomad visa in Ireland - remote workers employed here need a standard work permit.

EEA citizens don't need a permit. If you're hiring post-Brexit UK nationals, check the current rules separately.

Compliance pitfalls to watch

GDPR applies strictly to employee data. You need consent or a legitimate legal basis before processing personal information. The Data Protection Commission can issue significant fines for breaches.

Trade unions are active, particularly in the public sector. Collective bargaining isn't mandatory for most private employers, but if union density is high in your workforce, you'll want to consult on major changes even if formal recognition isn't required.

A few recent shifts worth knowing: NDAs are now restricted in harassment cases - you can't use them to silence employees unless the employee requests it, the terms are clear, and they've had independent legal advice. Automatic pension enrollment starts in January 2026 for employees aged 23 to 60 earning €20,000 or more. Pay transparency rules come into effect by June 2026, requiring published salary ranges, a ban on pay history questions, and gap assessments where differences exceed 5%.

Looking further ahead: the Employment Law Review Group is examining unfair dismissal rules, employment status tests, and notice periods through 2026. Retirement age protections now require a process for handling requests to work to pension age, with compensation of up to 104 weeks' pay or €40,000. Flexible working refusals can also lead to claims worth up to 20 weeks' pay, so make sure any process around hybrid or flexible work is documented and consistent.

The practical takeaway: document everything. Use an EOR to handle the compliance-heavy parts of terminations, permits, and filings. Train your managers on fair process. And review your contracts against the 2026 rule changes before you hire. Rushed terminations and poor consultation are expensive mistakes in Ireland.