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Ireland: Operating a Business

Legal Forms of Companies | The Active Population in Figures | Working Conditions | The Cost of Labor | Management of Human Resources

Legal Forms of Companies

Types of Companies and Capital (Max/Min)	Number of Partners/Shareholders and Liability
Private Company Limited by Shares (Ltd) One share per shareholder	Shareholders cannot exceed 99 Limited to capital suscribed
Public Company Limited by Shares (PLC) Minimum allotted share capital, EUR 38,092; 25% of shares allotted, together with all premiums, must be paid up.	Minimum of 7 shareholders Limited to capital suscribed

Enterprises Federation: Irish SME Association
Enterprise Ireland
Enterprise and Industry, European Commission
Search a Company or a Financial Report: CRO, Company Registration Office

Business Setup Procedures

Setting Up a Company	Ireland	OECD
Procedures (number)	4.00	5.60
Time (days)	13.00	13.80

Source: Doing Business.

For Further Information: Consult Doing Business Website, to know about procedures to start a Business in Ireland.
Trade Register
The Competent Organization: The Irish Companies Registration Office.

Recovery Procedures

Principle: Click here.
Minimum Debt-to-Capital Ratio Triggering Liquidation: Click here.
Bankruptcy Laws: Click here.
Reorganization and Rehabilitation Laws: Click here.

The Active Population in Figures

	2010
Labor Force	2,150,000

Source: CIA - The world factbook

	2009	2010
Total activity rate	-	63.60%
Men activity rate	73.00%	-
Women activity rate	54.40%	-

Source: UN - United Nations

Employed Persons, by Occupation (% of Total Labor Force)	2007
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing	0.0%
Other Production Industries	0.0%
Construction	0.0%
Wholesale & Retail Trade	0.0%
Hotels and Restaurants	0.0%
Transport, Storage & Communication	0.0%
Financial & Other Business Services	0.0%
Public Administration & Defense	0.0%
Education	0.0%
Health	0.0%
Other Services	0.0%

Source: Central Statistics Office Ireland

For Further Statistics: Central Statistics Office Ireland
For Further Information About the Labor Market: Department of trade and employment

Working Conditions

Opening Hours
Legal Weekly Duration: 39 hours. More information on the website of the public service.
Maximum Duration: 48 hours
Night Hours: Night workers are entitled to a free health assessment before starting night work and at regular intervals thereafter.

Working Rest Day: Working hours are governed by EU directives, which stipulate that you’re entitled to a minimum of 11 hours’ continuous rest in every 24 hours and at least one rest period in a working day of more than six hours. You’re also entitled to at least 24 hours’ continuous rest every week. Employers are required to compensate staff for Sunday working (i.e. pay them more than their normal daily wage).
Paid Annual Vacation: Under the law, Organisation of Working Time Act , 1997, employees are entitled to 4 working weeks annual leave (20 days) in any leave year during which they have worked 1,365 hours.
Any employee who has worked for at least 8 months of the leave year is entitled to a 2 week unbroken leave period.
Retirement Age: 65 years
Child Labor and Minimum Age For Employment: The employment of children under the school-leaving age is generally prohibited. 15 is the legal full-time working age.

The Cost of Labor

Pay

Minimum Wage

The National Minimum Wage Act 2000 provides that the minimum wage rate for an experienced adult employee is EUR 8.65 per hour. Click here.

Average Wage

Informations are available on the website of the Central statistics Office of Ireland.

Other Forms of Pay

Pay For Overtime

"Working hours" include overtime. Although there is no statutory entitlement to premium pay for overtime, it could be arranged between employer and employee.

Pay For Rest Days Worked

There are three different ways of calculating your annual leave entitlement:

Based on the employee’s working hours during what is called the leave year, which runs from April to March. An employee who has worked at least 1,365 hours in the leave year (that is, an average working week of 26.25 hours) is entitled to the maximum of four weeks’ annual leave. Many employers use the calendar year (January-December) instead of the official leave year to calculate entitlement
By allowing 1/3 of a working week for each calendar month in which the employee has worked at least 117 hours
8% of the hours worked in the leave year, subject to a maximum of 4 weeks

Notes

An employee may use whichever of these methods gives the greater entitlement.
An employee who has worked for at least 8 months is entitled to an unbroken period of 2 weeks’ annual leave.

Pay For Night Hours

The definition of normal weekly pay excludes any payments /remuneration or allowances in respect of overtime, night work, shift work, unsocial hours or an employee being available "on call".

Social Security Costs

The Areas Covered: Health insurance (medical care, maternity, disability, death), retirement pensions, family allowances, unemployment benefit.
Almost half the Irish population now pay for private health insurance, one of the highest levels of coverage in the OECD. Click here to consult the website of Irish Wellfare.
Contributions: Contributions Paid By the Employer: 12 %
Contributions Paid By the Employee: 4,5%
Competent Organization: Department of Social and Family Affairs

Management of Human Resources

Recruitment

Method of Recruitment: The main recruitment methods are local newspaper advertisements, word of mouth and recruitment agencies. Most companies use only one method because it works for them.
Companies will only change their methods if the current one is perceived not to be working. Most companies do not have a specific recruitment budget because the activity is not significant in cost terms or in frequency.
Recruitment Agencies: Jobs.ie, Irishjobs, Monster, Bay Group...
Recruitment Websites: Jobs.ie
Irishjobs
Monster
Bay Group

The Contract

Type of Contract: A contract of employment can be verbal or written, or a combination of both. Most contracts of employment are unlimited i.e. they do not specify an end-date. Fixed-term contracts of employment are generally treated the same way as unlimited contracts, except that they are subject to special rules about termination.
There are no special contracts of employment. Most contracts of employment specify a probation period of twelve months. More details on the website of the International Labor Organization.

Breach of Contracts
Retirement: There is no single fixed retirement age for employees in Ireland. If you are employed, your retirement age is set out in your contract of employment. The usual retirement age in contracts of employment is 65.
Dismissals: Service is not broken by a lockout, lay-off, strike or change of ownership of business or dismissal followed by immediate re-engagement. The Labor Relations Commission has published the Code of Practice: Grievance and Disciplinary Procedures which states that employers should have written grievance and disciplinary procedures and they should give employees copies of these at the start of their employment. Under the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977-2001 employers are required to give the employee in written notice of the procedures to be followed before an employee is dismissed. This must be done within 28 days of entering the contract of employment.
Labor Laws: Labor regulation

Dispute Settlement

Conciliation Process

Cases of Dispute: Labor law matters are generally not dealt with through the ordinary courts structures, but rather through a specialist structure of labor institutions: the Labor Relations Commission, Rights Commissioners, the Director of Equality Investigations, the Labor Court and the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
Legal Framework: After hearing the parties, rights commissioner issue the findings of their investigations in the form of either non-binding recommendations or decisions, depending on the legislation under which a case is referred.
These can be appealed, provided the appeal is lodged within the time limits set down in the legislation. The relevant Acts govern whether the appeal is to the Labor Court or Employment Appeals Tribunal. Having heard the appeal, the Court, or Tribunal, will issue a decision, which is binding on the parties to the dispute.

Judicial Structures

Competent Legal Body: The Irish Labor Court
The Labor Relations Commission (LRC)

Social Partners

Social Dialogue and Involvement of Social Partners: The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is the single umbrella organization for trade unions in Ireland representing a wide range of interests of almost 750,000 working people, both in the Republic and in Northern Ireland.
In 2006 there were 64 unions affiliated to Congress, 48 unions with 543,882 members in the Republic of Ireland and 36 unions with 215,478 members in Northern Ireland.
Unionization Rate: Currently, roughly 33% of workers in the private sector are unionized, compared to 95% in the public sector. Among foreign-owned firms, roughly 80% of workers do not belong to unions, although pay and benefits are usually more attractive compared with domestic firms.
Unions: Irish Congress of Trade Unions
Regulation Bodies: International Labour Market

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