Notice Period Ireland: Your Statutory Minimum Explained

JobChamp Guide · Updated July 17, 2026

Your notice period in Ireland is set by the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act 1973. Once you have 13 weeks of continuous service, your employer owes you at least one week's notice, rising in steps up to eight weeks after 15 years or more. You, in turn, generally only owe your employer one week, unless your contract says otherwise. Either side can agree to payment in lieu instead of working the notice.

The law behind your notice period

The core law is the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act 1973, as amended by later legislation and commonly referred to together as the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts 1973 to 2005. It sets a statutory floor: the least amount of notice an employer must give an employee before ending employment, based on how long that employee has worked there. Your employment contract can promise more notice than the Act requires, but it cannot lawfully promise less. If it tries to, that clause simply has no effect and the statutory minimum applies instead.

The Act generally covers employees once they have built up at least 13 weeks of continuous service with the same employer. Below that threshold, there is no statutory minimum notice, though your contract may still set one. A small number of categories sit outside the Act altogether, including close family members employed in the same household or on the same farm, members of the Defence Forces, and An Garda Síochána, so if you fall into one of those groups, different rules apply.

Statutory minimum notice from your employer

The table below shows the legal minimum notice your employer must give you when ending your employment, based on your length of continuous service. These are minimums, not caps. Nothing stops your contract, company handbook, or a collective agreement from setting a longer period.

How much notice you owe your employer

When you are the one resigning, the statutory position is simpler: once you have 13 weeks of continuous service, you owe your employer a minimum of one week's notice, and that figure does not increase with extra years of service the way the employer's side does. What can increase it is your own contract. Many contracts, especially for more senior roles, specify two, four, or even twelve weeks' notice from the employee, and if yours does, that contractual figure is what you must honour, not the bare statutory week.

Before you hand in your notice, reread your contract, not just the notice clause but also any probation, garden leave, or restrictive covenant terms nearby. Confirm the notice period in writing to your employer, ideally by letter or email, and keep a copy with a clear date.

Contractual notice versus the statutory minimum

Most employment contracts in Ireland state a specific notice period rather than simply pointing back to the Act. That is normal and expected. The statutory table only becomes the operative rule in two situations: when your contract is silent on notice, or when your contract tries to set a shorter period than the law allows. In the second case, the shorter clause is unenforceable and the statutory minimum takes over automatically.

It also works the other way. If your contract promises four weeks' notice but you have only 18 months of service, meaning the statutory table would only guarantee you one week, the contract wins because it is more generous. Always compare both figures and rely on whichever gives you more.

Payment in lieu of notice

Section 7 of the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act 1973 allows an employer and employee to agree that notice is paid rather than worked. In practice, this usually happens when an employer decides it is better for the business, or for the departing employee, not to have that person physically present or actively working during the notice period. If your employer chooses this route and does not require you to work some or all of your notice, they are obliged to pay you for that time as if you had worked it.

Payment in lieu is not automatic just because one side wants it. Genuine agreement, or a contractual clause allowing the employer to impose it unilaterally, is what makes it lawful. If your contract is silent and your employer simply stops paying you without your agreement partway through what should be a working notice period, that is a separate problem worth raising directly, and if unresolved, worth taking to the Workplace Relations Commission.

Garden leave: staying employed but staying home

Garden leave is a related but different arrangement. Instead of ending your employment early and paying you a lump sum in lieu, your employer keeps you formally employed and fully paid for the whole notice period, but releases you from your usual day-to-day duties, often to protect confidential information, client relationships, or a handover to a competitor. Garden leave is not created by the 1973 Act itself; it depends on your contract containing a clause that allows your employer to use it. If your contract has no such clause, your employer cannot simply impose garden leave without your agreement.

Notice during probation

Many contracts set a shorter notice period, sometimes as little as a few days or one week, for the probationary period, reverting to a longer contractual notice once you are confirmed in the role. Even during probation, though, the 13-week statutory threshold still matters: once you pass it, the Act's minimum notice applies regardless of your probationary status, unless your contract already gives you more.

How to behave during your notice period

Once notice has been given, by either side, the employment relationship continues in full until the notice period ends, and so do your obligations. You are still expected to turn up, perform your role, and follow reasonable instructions, unless your employer has placed you on garden leave or paid you in lieu. Equally, your usual entitlements continue: normal pay, any contractual benefits, and generally accrued annual leave for the time you actually work.

A few practical points worth keeping in mind. First, do not assume you can simply stop showing up once you have handed in your notice; walking out early without agreement can expose you to a claim for the notice you failed to work. Second, keep the handover professional and documented, since references and final payslip disputes often trace back to how the last few weeks were handled. Third, if you are made redundant instead of resigning, notice rules interact with your statutory redundancy payment, and the two calculations, statutory notice and statutory redundancy, are worked out separately even though they often run alongside each other.

When no notice is required at all

The 1973 Act does not affect either party's right to end the contract without any notice where the other party's conduct amounts to misconduct serious enough to justify it. In practice, this covers genuine gross misconduct dismissals by an employer, and, less commonly, an employee walking out immediately in response to the employer's own serious breach. This is a narrow exception, not a general escape hatch, and if you believe it has been misused against you, that is exactly the kind of dispute the Workplace Relations Commission exists to resolve.

If your employer does not give you proper notice

If your employer ends your employment without giving you the notice the Act or your contract entitles you to, and without paying you in lieu, you can raise a complaint with the Workplace Relations Commission. Keep your contract, payslips, and any termination letter together before you do, since the exact dates of your continuous service are what determines which row of the statutory table applies to you. Where notice is withheld alongside other issues, such as the fairness of the dismissal itself, it is worth reading our guide on unfair dismissal in Ireland as well, since the two questions are often assessed together.

Frequently asked questions

This article is general information and does not replace legal advice for your specific situation. For concrete disputes, the Workplace Relations Commission, Citizens Information, your trade union, or an employment solicitor can help.