Horizon scanning What Irish employers need to know for 2026

As we approach the final weeks of 2025, Irish employers and employees should prepare for a series of significant employment law changes taking effect from January 2026. In this article, we discuss some key dates and developments which we will continue to monitor over the next 12 months. 

January 2026

Auto-enrolment Scheme – My Future Fund (MFF)

From 1^st January 2026, all employees not already in an occupational pension scheme, aged between 23 and 60 and earning over €20,000, will be automatically enrolled in MFF. Both employer and employee contributions will start at 1.5% and increase every three years by 1.5% until eventually reaching 6% by year ten.

Earlier this month, Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary expressed concern about employers attempting to circumvent MFF by enrolling employees in inferior occupational schemes. In response, the Department of Social Protection is contemplating introducing minimum pension contribution regulations within weeks, taking effect from the 1^st January 2026. This would establish a new minimum total contribution rate of 3.5% to occupational schemes, with at least 1.5% from the employer and the remaining 2% from either the employer or employee.

Registration opened last week for employers to register company details and set up payment methods through the employer portal on the MFF website.

This area is evolving rapidly and, with the 1^st January 2026 deadline quickly approaching, further updates are expected before year-end.

National Minimum Wage (NMW)

The NMW will increase by €0.65 to €14.15 as of 1^st January 2026.

Originally scheduled for full rollout by 2026, the National Living Wage (NLW), which is set at 60% of the median wage, will now be introduced gradually with a new target date of 2029.

Between now and 2029, the NMW is intended to continue increasing to close the gap between the NMW and NLW.

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)

The entitlement to SSP will remain at 5 days per calendar year. Although the Sick Leave Act, 2022 envisaged an increase to 7 days in 2025 and 10 days in 2026, the Government has deferred the increase, citing employer cost pressures. SSP is paid at 70% of gross earnings, up to a daily cap of €110.  

Revenue Commissioners Disclosure Opportunity 

Employers have until 30^th January 2026 to make disclosures to the Revenue Commissioners regarding payroll tax issues for 2024 and 2025 arising from the genuine misclassification of employees as contractors, without the imposition of interest and penalties. Where an employer fails to make a disclosure by this date, and liabilities from misclassification are subsequently discovered, tax, interest and penalties will be applied in full. You can read more on this here. 

June 2026

EU Pay Transparency Directive (Pay Directive)

Ireland has until 7^th June 2026 to transpose the Pay Directive into Irish law. The Pay Directive requires EU member states to put in place legislation establishing the following:

• Employers must put in place pay structures that guarantee equal pay for equal work or work of equal value;
• Enhanced gender pay gap reporting, broken down by category of employee, with a broader definition of "pay" encompassing all consideration received in respect of employment;
• Mandatory equal pay audits will be triggered when a gender pay gap report shows a non-objective gap of at least 5% in any worker category and the gap remains unremedied six months after reporting;
• Pay secrecy clauses are banned;
• All employees can request information on their individual pay level and the average pay levels by gender for comparable roles;
• Initial pay level or range must be indicated in job vacancy notices or before interview and employers are prohibited from asking applicants about their pay history or current salary

There is no legislation in place as of yet but the government’s legislative programme states that the Heads of a Pay Transparency Bill are in preparation. Additionally, in January 2025, the General Scheme of the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, 2024 was published with provisions aimed at enhancing transparency prior to employment.

Other notable changes set out in the General Scheme include:

• The addition of a new ground of discrimination, the 'socio-economic ground', under the Employment Equality Act 1998 (1998 Act) and the Equal Status Act, 2000 (2000 Act);
• Extending the time limit for bringing claims under the 1998 Act and 2000 Act from 6 months to 12 months;
• Increasing potential compensation under the 2000 Act from €15,000 to €75,000;
• Allowing the Workplace Relations Commission to hear discrimination complaints against licensed premises such as pubs and hotels (currently dealt with in the District Court);
• The removal of the existing provision in the 1998 Act that allows differential pay rates to be paid to disabled persons if their productivity is restricted compared to other staff.

As it stands, the General Scheme is currently being revised, and it remains to be seen whether the draft as currently formulated will become a formal bill and eventually law.

August 2026

The EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act)

In recent weeks, the European Commission has proposed that certain sections of the AI Act be delayed until 2027.

The AI Act was expected to begin phased commencement in August 2026. However, it appears that companies developing high-risk AI systems (in relation to recruitment systems, employee monitoring tools and performance algorithms) will now not come under the AI Act’s provisions until December 2027. The EU Commission Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen has stated that the postponement aims to ensure that "standards, specifications and guidelines" are ready before high-risk obligations take effect. However, this move also comes following criticism from tech companies and the Trump administration.

December 2026

Platform Workers Directive (Directive (EU) 2024/2831)

The Platform Workers Directive introduces key mechanisms to clarify the employment status of individuals engaged in platform work. Platform work, commonly known as the “gig economy”, is work organised through a digital labour platform, such as a food delivery app. The Platform Workers Directive establishes a presumption of an employment relationship between a digital labour platform and a person performing platform work that is triggered when there are facts indicating that “direction and control” are present.

By 2^nd December 2026, Member States are required to transpose the provisions of the Platform Workers Directive into national law. It remains to be seen how the Government will approach the legislation to transpose the Platform Workers Directive. However, given that the Supreme Court’s decision in Karshan (Midlands) Ltd v Revenue Commissioners (2023) (Karshan) has transformed the Irish legal framework for determining whether a worker is an employee or a contractor in Ireland, any legislation will likely be guided by the five-step test set out in Karshan. Further details on the implications of Karshan can be found in our article from November 2023 here. 

Watch This Space

Employment (Contractual Retirement Ages) Bill 2025 (Retirement Ages Bill)

As of 5^th November 2025, the Retirement Ages Bill has progressed through the fifth stage of the Dáil. Under the Retirement Ages Bill, where employers wish to rely on a contractual retirement age which is below the State pensionable age of 66, they will need to be prepared to document employee notifications and ensure reasoned replies issue within one month. Employers will need to demonstrate that the retirement age is objectively and reasonably justified by a legitimate aim and that it is appropriate and necessary to achieve that aim.

As currently drafted, the Retirement Ages Bill is at odds with the 2024 Supreme Court decision of Seamus Mallon v The Minister for Justice, Ireland, and the Attorney General (Mallon). The key difference to the position which has been followed since Mallon is that the Retirement Ages Bill introduces a requirement to justify a mandatory retirement age in respect of the individual employee.

It remains to be seen whether this contradiction will be addressed as the legislative process continues.

Collective Bargaining 

On 5^th November 2025, the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment launched Ireland’s Action Plan to Promote Collective Bargaining 2026–2030 (Plan), which is intended to fulfil Ireland’s obligations under Article 4 of the EU Adequate Minimum Wages Directive 2022/2041 (AMWD). Under the AMWD, any Member State with a collective bargaining rate below 80% must establish a framework of enabling conditions for collective bargaining. The Plan outlines measures to enable and expand collective bargaining coverage and was developed in collaboration with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and Ibec. The Plan commits to new public awareness campaigns, a new Code of Practice, the exploration of tax incentives to support union membership, and targeted research to measure the benefits of collective bargaining.

RDJ will continue to monitor all developments in Irish employment law over the coming weeks and into 2026.