Minimum Wage
The national minimum wage rate is set in an Order by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The National Minimum Wage applies to all employees, including full-time, part-time, temporary and casual employees, except the following categories or employees who are excluded from its provisions:
Employees who are close relatives of the employer, such as a spouse, father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister;
Employees undergoing structured training such as an apprenticeship (other than hairdressing apprenticeships)
An employee who has not attained the age of 18 years shall be paid a rate that is not less than 70% of the national minimum hourly rate of pay. An employee who has attained the age of 18 years shall receive at least 80% of the minimum wage in their first year after having commenced employment, and at least 90% of the minimum wage in their second year after having commenced employment. Employers are permitted to pay employees who are under 18, first-time job entrants, or those undergoing structured training. For training rates to apply, the training is split into three equal parts of not less than one month and not more than twelve months each. Pay rates increase for each third of the training time. The minimum period of training must be 03 months. As for the one-third period required under training programs, it can be at least 01 month but not longer than 12 months. There is also a case of experienced adult workers whose employer successfully applied to the Labour Court for a once-off temporary exemption from paying the national minimum wage on the grounds of inability to pay.
According to the National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Act 2015, the Low Pay Commission makes annual recommendations to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation regarding the national hourly rate of pay that is designed to assist as many low-paid workers as is reasonably practicable. Minimum hourly pay is set at a rate that is both fair and sustainable; where adjustment is appropriate, it is adjusted incrementally. Over time, it has progressively increased without creating significant adverse consequences for employment or competitiveness. This act also requires the Commission, when formulating its recommendations, to have regard to such matters as changes in earnings and currency exchange rates, international comparisons (particularly with the UK) and the likely effect on levels of employment, the cost of living and national competitiveness.
Labour Inspectors are required to ensure compliance with the provisions of labour laws, including the provisions on minimum wages. A worker may file an online complaint with the Workplace Relations Commission requesting either that the inspector from the Commission investigate the claim or refer the dispute to an adjudicator from the Commission. Refusal to pay the minimum wage, as prescribed per hour, is a punishable offence. An employer found guilty of an offence under the National Minimum Wage Act is liable, under summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both. In the case of conviction on indictment, a fine up to £10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years, or both, may be imposed.
Ireland has transposed Directive (EU) 2022/2041 through the European Union (Adequate Minimum Wages) Regulations 2024 (S.I. No. 633/2024). The Low Pay Commission must review the national minimum hourly rate, youth rates and any board-and-lodging allowances against specified adequacy criteria, including earnings levels and their distribution, cost of living and purchasing power, productivity and indicative reference values such as 60% of gross median hourly wages.
Separately, because collective bargaining coverage in Ireland is below the threshold mentioned in the Directive, the State has published Ireland’s Action Plan to Promote Collective Bargaining 2026–2030. That action plan is a policy response required by the Directive; it does not itself create a general duty on employers to recognise trade unions.
Source: National Minimum Wage Act S.14-17 and 35-37, last amended in 2016; S.I. No. 331 of 2011 S.2; National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Act 2015; National Minimum Wage Order of 2025; S.I. No. 633/2024, European Union (Adequate Minimum Wages) Regulations 2024
https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-enterprise-tourism-and-employment/press-releases/t%C3%A1naiste-outlines-proposal-to-bring-in-living-wage-for-all/
For the updated minimum wage, kindly refer to the section on Minimum Wages.
Regular Pay
The Payment of Wages Act 1991 regulates the manner in which employees are paid. Employment contracts must state the rate of pay, the timing and method of payment, and details relating to commissions or bonuses. Under the Payment of Wages Act, 1991, wages may be paid through:
Cash;
a cheque or bank draft drawn on any of the commercial banks or a Trustee Savings Bank;
a Postal Order, Money Order or Payable Order Warrant issued by or drawn on An Post
a credit transfer to an account specified by the employee
a Payable Order or Warrant, issued by a Minister of the Government, Local Authority, etc.
Employers must provide employees with written statements of wages and deductions at the time of payment, and are obliged to take all reasonable steps to ensure confidentiality. Employers are also prohibited from making deductions from wages unless authorised by law or an employment contract, or with the consent of the employee.
Every employer must select a pay reference period for each individual employee. A pay reference period may be a week, a fortnight, but can't exceed one calendar month. Factors influencing the selection of pay reference period for employees include whether an employee is paid on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis, whether the employee’s earnings remain constant or fluctuate from week to week, and the requirement on an employer to provide an employee with a written statement, if requested by the employee, of the employee’s average hourly rate of pay in a pay reference period or periods.
In accordance with section 3.1.h of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994, new employees have to be notified in writing of the pay reference period selected by their employer and other terms of employment within two months of taking up employment. A pay reference period cannot be longer than one month. However, the selection of a pay reference period does not affect the pay period of an employee. Employers can select a pay reference period of a month while paying employees on a weekly basis.
The Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Act 2022 applies mainly to hospitality and related service settings and is designed to ensure that electronic tips and gratuities are distributed fairly to employees. As a rule, the employer may not keep a share of electronically paid tips or gratuities, except where the Act specifically allows deductions required by law.
The Act also deals with transparency. Employers covered by the Act must display a tips and gratuities notice for customers and must include the employer’s policy on tips, gratuities and mandatory charges in the written terms given to employees.
Where tips or gratuities are distributed, the employee must receive a written statement no later than 10 days afterwards showing the total distributed for the period and the amount paid to that employee.
There is no general rule in Irish employment law requiring employers to pay a 13th- or 14th-month salary. Any such entitlement would have to come from the contract, a collective agreement, a consistently applied workplace practice or a specific sectoral arrangement.
Source: Payment of Wages (Tips and Gratutities) amended Act of 2022, S.I. No. 354/1993, Social Welfare (Temporary Provisions) Regulations, 1993; Section 4 of the Bill on Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Amendment Bill of 2025
