Employing in Ireland
The questions every international employer asks about hiring in Ireland
Eleven questions, each answered in a paragraph, with a link to the longer guide where one exists. Use the list below to skip to the one you came for.
Questions this page answers
1
How do you employ someone in Ireland?
Two routes exist: incorporate an Irish company yourself, or employ through a company that already has one. Both end in the same obligations. The employee needs a written contract, a statement of core terms inside five days, registration with Revenue, and a payroll submission filed on or before every pay date. Ireland has no at-will employment, so what you agree at the start is hard to unwind later.
Read the step-by-step hiring guide →2
How much does it cost to employ someone in Ireland?
Budget for the gross salary, employer PRSI on top of it, auto-enrolment pension contributions, and whatever benefits you offer. Employer PRSI is 9.00% on weekly earnings up to €552 and 11.25% above it. Both rates rise by 0.15 percentage points on 1 October 2026, to 9.15% and 11.40%.
Separately, income tax, PRSI and the Universal Social Charge come off the employee’s pay. Revenue collects all of it through PAYE, reported in real time on or before each pay date.
See the full payroll breakdown →3
How long does it take to hire someone in Ireland?
An EOR can have someone contracted and on payroll within a day or two, because the registration with Revenue already exists and a Payroll Notification can be issued straight away. Building the same thing yourself runs to 8 to 12 weeks once incorporation, a bank account and a payroll function are counted.
4
Do you need an Irish company to employ someone there?
No. An Irish company is one way to employ here, not a requirement. Incorporating takes 8 to 12 weeks and carries filing and accounting costs that barely change between one employee and thirty, which is what makes it sensible at scale and wasteful below it. Below roughly ten people, an EOR is usually the cheaper and faster answer.
Compare EOR and your own entity →5
Should you hire an employee or a contractor?
Ongoing work performed under your direction is employment, whatever the contract calls it. The Karshan judgment in 2023 gave Revenue a five-step test that looks at how the arrangement runs rather than how it is labelled, and a reclassification brings back-dated income tax, PRSI and USC with it. A genuine contractor carries their own business risk and has other clients.
Understand misclassification risk →6
What must an Irish employment contract include?
An Irish employee must receive a written statement of core terms within five days of starting, with fuller written terms to follow. The contract sets pay, hours, leave and notice, and it cannot remove statutory rights. Probation is capped, and reused overseas templates often miss what Irish law requires.
Read the contracts guide →7
How do PAYE, PRSI and USC work?
Ireland runs real-time payroll under PAYE. Three things come off each payslip: income tax (20% up to €44,000 for a single person in 2026, 40% above), PRSI, and the Universal Social Charge. Employer PRSI is paid on top of salary as a direct business cost, and every run is reported to Revenue on or before pay day.
See the full payroll breakdown →8
What is the minimum wage in Ireland?
The national minimum wage in Ireland is €14.15 an hour for workers aged 20 and over from 1 January 2026. Lower age-based rates apply below 20: €12.74 at 19, €11.32 at 18, and €9.91 under 18.
9
What leave are employees in Ireland entitled to?
Full-time employees get a minimum of four working weeks of paid annual leave, plus 10 public holidays. On top of that sit statutory sick pay and family leave: maternity (26 weeks, plus 16 unpaid), paternity, parent’s and parental leave. Most family leave is paid through state benefits rather than by the employer.
10
How does statutory sick pay work?
Employees in Ireland are entitled to five paid sick days in 2026, paid at 70% of normal pay and capped at €110 a day. A medical certificate is required, and the employee needs 13 weeks’ service to qualify. A planned rise beyond five days was paused, so it stays at five for the year.
Read the sick pay guide →11
What are the pension auto-enrolment rules?
My Future Fund, Ireland’s auto-enrolment pension, started on 1 January 2026. Employees aged 23 to 60 earning over €20,000 who are not already in a workplace pension are enrolled automatically. Employer contributions start at 1.5% of pay and rise in stages to 6% over ten years.
Read the auto-enrolment guide →12
How do you end employment in Ireland?
Ending employment in Ireland follows statutory rules. Notice runs from one week to eight, based on length of service. Genuine redundancy pays two weeks per year of service plus one week, capped at €600 a week and tax-free. Unfair dismissal protection usually applies after 12 months, and a fair process matters as much as the reason.
13
Do employees have a right to request remote work?
Employees in Ireland have the right to request remote work under the Work Life Balance Act, not a right to work remotely. The employer must consider a request and respond within a set timeframe. The decision sits with the employer, as long as the process is followed.
Read the remote work guide →14
How can an Employer of Record handle all of this for you?
Everything above becomes someone else’s responsibility. The EOR signs the contract, issues the statement of core terms, registers the employee with Revenue, files the payroll submission on each pay date, applies leave and sick pay, enrols them into My Future Fund where they qualify, and calculates notice when the role ends. What stays with you is the work itself, one named specialist to ask, and one invoice a month.
See how our EOR service works →Have you found someone in Ireland?
Send us the role, the salary and the start date you are working towards. You will get the full annual cost back, employer PRSI included at the rate that applies, and a realistic date for their first payslip.