Irish Annual Leave  Calculator 2026

Under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, every employee is entitled to a minimum of 4 working weeks of paid annual leave per year. For a standard full-time employee (5 days a week), this equals 20 days. This is separate from public holidays, of which there are 10 per year.

Part-time employees are entitled to annual leave calculated as 8% of the total hours they actually work in a leave year, subject to a maximum of 4 working weeks. For example, a part-time employee working 20 hours per week for a full year is entitled to 83.2 hours of annual leave (20 x 52 x 8%).

No. Public holidays are entirely separate from annual leave in Ireland. Employees are entitled to both their 4 weeks of annual leave and all 10 public holidays. An employer cannot count public holidays as annual leave days.

Annual leave must generally be taken within the leave year it is accrued, or within 6 months of the end of that leave year by agreement. However, employees who could not take annual leave due to illness may carry it over for up to 15 months after the end of the relevant leave year.

On termination of employment, an employee is entitled to be paid for any accrued but untaken annual leave. This payment must be made on the date the employment ends. Failure to pay for unused annual leave on termination is a breach of the Act and can be brought as a complaint to the WRC.

Yes. Following an amendment to the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, employees in Ireland continue to accrue annual leave entitlement while on certified sick leave, regardless of the length of the absence.

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