How to hire remote employees in

Ireland

Found someone in Ireland you’d like to hire remotely? If you’ve never hired anyone in Ireland before, the process can seem daunting. And it is daunting, if you don’t know what you’re doing. That’s why we’re here. By the end of this page, you’ll know everything you need to know to start hiring remote talent in Ireland.

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Employment requirements

Country snapshot

CURRENCY

Euro (EUR)

EMPLOYER TAXES

11.05%

PAYROLL FREQUENCY

Monthly

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

Irish, English

Why hire independent contractors in Ireland

Hiring contractors is normally the easier, faster, more flexible choice—but don’t just take it from us. Below are the specific benefits and drawbacks to hiring contractors in Ireland.

It’s the fastest way to hire globally

Hiring employees takes months, at the minimum. When you hire with Thera's locally-generated contracts, it’s a matter of days or weeks. This means you can hire the best talent, fast, without losing them to a hellish procession of paperwork.

It’s a lot cheaper

It costs just $0 to sign up for Thera, then $25 per month to hire your contractors with Thera. If you hired employees manually (or did contracting on your own), you’d likely be on the hook for thousands of dollars each month. Setting up an entity alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

It’s more flexible for you & your team

HHiring contractors in Ireland means you’re generally not on the hook for things like health insurance and paid time off. This makes hiring flexible for you, and it gives your talent more options.

Can be less risky than hiring employees

Hiring employees is a bigger commitment, and can open you up to increased liabilities and regulations. When you hire contractors overseas, your biggest risk is misclassification—but laws surrounding contractor classification are often significantly more straightforward.

Some people want to be employees

The contractor life isn’t for everyone—some people want the security that being an employee often appears to provide. Though it’s rare, this does happen, and it’s one disadvantage of manage an all-contractor team.

You might not have as much control over your talent

Most countries’ contractor-employer relationship laws stipulate that the employer can’t set fixed working hours, among other things. These laws give contractors more freedom over how and when they do their work than an employee would have. In reality, however, most contractors are willing & able to work on the company’s schedule—it’s a matter of setting expectations beforehand.

What to know before you hire in Ireland

Hiring in Ireland can be notoriously difficult—but not when you know what you’re doing. If you want to hire remote talent in Ireland, you have two options: Hire people as contractors, or hire them as employees.

If you want to successfully hire in Ireland, you have two options:

Hire talent as contractors

Laws about hiring contractors are significantly more simple in Ireland. Onboarding talent takes days, not weeks or months. Both you, the company, and your talent have more flexibility. And in many cases, since you’re remote, the talent you’re hiring is better classified as a contractor, anyway. Of course, it’s not possible in every case, but it’s what we built Thera for.

Hire talent as employees

This is the long route. You can either establish a physical presence with an entity and register as an employer, or you can use an Employer-of-Record (EOR) solution. Odds are, you’ll find using an EOR to be the easier route. Still, using an EOR in Ireland is expensive—it can often be $500 per month per employee—and sometimes prone to lengthy onboarding times.

Hire contractors in a couple clicks with Thera

How can I pay people in Ireland

If you’re hiring contractors in Ireland, you can pay them with Thera in a single click. You won’t need to worry about complicated wire transfers, fees, or currency conversions. We’ll take care of it all. Just make a click and your contractor will get paid in their currency of choice. This is a valuable bonus for talent in countries where the local currency is particularly weak—most people appreciate the ability to receive their payment in stronger currencies.

If you want to hire employees in Ireland

If you’ve read up until this point, you’ll know that it’s easier, cheaper, and more flexible to hire contractors in Ireland than employees. Still, there are valid reasons why you might want to hire employees instead. The content below is for you—we’ll cover employer taxes and obligations in Ireland.

Taxes in Ireland

Employer tax

Social Security (PRSI)

Leave

Paid Time Off (PTO)

PTO is calculated by the:

Full-time employees receive four weeks of paid annual vacation, although more leave is possible if it’s within the employee’s contract.
However, the employer can decide when annual leave is taken. Paid leave will only carry over if it is agreed upon between the employer and employee.

Public Holidays

There are 9 public holidays.

Sick Days

No statutory law is in place that requires employees to receive paid sick leave, but employers should decide on their own sick leave policy and enact it in the employees’ contract or terms of employment.

Employers must submit a written statement to an employee within two months of employment that provides information on the terms and conditions related to incapacity to work due to sickness or injury.

If an employee is ill during annual leave, they may obtain a medical certificate so the sick days will not count towards annual leave days.

Maternity Leave

Mothers are entitled to 26 (156 days) weeks of maternity leave and can receive an extra 16 weeks of unpaid leave, which begins immediately after the end of maternity leave. Mothers must take at least 2 weeks before the expected birth and at least 4 weeks after. Entitlement for paid leave depends on if the worker has contributed enough so social insurance, as employers are not obligated to pay.

To receive benefits employees must contribute:

At least 39 weeks of PRSI paid in the 12-month period before the first day of your maternity leave

At least 39 weeks of PRSI paid since first starting work and at least 39 weeks of PRSI paid or credited in the relevant tax year or in the tax year immediately following the relevant tax year.

At least 26 weeks of PRSI paid in the relevant tax year and at least 26 weeks PRSI paid in the tax year immediately before the relevant tax year.

The weekly standard rate is 245.00 EUR.

Paternity Leave

2 weeks of paid leave is given during any time within 26 weeks of the birth or adoption.

Those eligible for paternity leave are:

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

To receive benefits an employee must have contributed to social insurance:

At least 26 weeks PRSI paid in the relevant tax year and at least 26 weeks PRSI paid in the tax year immediately before the relevant tax year.

At least 39 weeks PRSI paid since first starting work and at least 39 weeks PRSI paid or credited in the relevant tax year or in the tax year immediately following the relevant tax year.

At least 26 weeks PRSI paid in the relevant tax year and at least 26 weeks PRSI paid in the tax year immediately before the relevant tax year.

Parental Leave

Parents of children age 12 years or younger are entitled to 26 weeks of unpaid leave.

Other Leave

None.

Marriage Leave

None.

Bereavement Leave

None.

Termination

Termination Process

If an employee has been employed for at least 13 weeks an employer should provide the statutory minimum of 1-week dismissal notice unless stated otherwise within the written contract.

If an employee feels the dismissal is unfair, they may ask for a written statement reasoning the dismissal. The statement should be provided within 14 days of the request.

When employment ends employees shall receive any money owed and a payslip.

Notice Period

The notice period in Ireland is:

Severance Pay

When dismissed they have the right to receive wages owed to them for work completed. They are also to receive payment for annual leave earned but not taken.

Employers are not required to pay severance to employees who have been terminated.

For cases of redundancy employees are eligible to receive:

two weeks’ pay
extra bonus week

Redundancy pay is set to a maximum limit of 600 per week. A worker with 5 years of consecutive employment is eligible for 11 weeks redundancy pay.

Probation Period

The probationary period can last from 6 to 12 months.

Employee requirements in Ireland

Working Hours

A full-time workweek is 39 hours. A workweek cannot exceed 48 hours on average over a 4-month period.

Overtime

Ireland does not have statutory overtime pay, however, is sometimes outlined in a collective bargaining agreement or is negotiated in the employment contract.

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