Ireland National Minimum Wage Checker

About the Ireland National Minimum Wage Checker

Most employees in Ireland are entitled to the national minimum wage under the National Minimum Wage Act 2000: €14.15 an hour from age 20, with lower minimums of €12.74 at 19, €11.32 at 18 and €9.91 under 18. This checker finds the rate for your age and compares it with the pay that counts for the minimum wage, which is not always the figure on your payslip.

Enter an hourly rate, a weekly or monthly wage or a yearly salary with the hours you work. The checker takes off premiums and allowances that do not count, adds board and lodgings from your employer at the fixed amounts, and shows your average hourly rate, the shortfall or margin a week and a year, and every step.

The rates

• Aged 20 and over: €14.15 an hour
• Aged 19: €12.74 (90%)
• Aged 18: €11.32 (80%)
• Under 18: €9.91 (70%)

The rates are set under the National Minimum Wage Act 2000; Citizens Information lists them. Some sectors, such as security and cleaning, have minimum rates of their own under Employment Regulation Orders; an employer must still pay at least the national minimum wage.

The Government has announced an increase to €14.94 an hour from 1 January 2027 (Department of Finance, Budget taxation measures); the rates for younger workers follow the same percentages. The checker compares your pay with it too.

What counts as pay

Counts: your basic pay, shift premiums, fees, bonuses and commission, service charges paid through payroll and zero-hours payments.

Does not count: overtime premiums, call-out and unsocial-hours premiums, premiums for public holidays, Saturdays or Sundays, allowances for special duties, on-call or standby allowances, tips (whether paid to you directly or from a central fund), sick pay, holiday pay, pension contributions from your employer, redundancy payments, benefits in kind (except board and lodgings) and loans from your employer (Citizens Information).

Board and lodgings

If your employer gives you meals (board) or accommodation (lodgings), fixed amounts count as pay: board at €1.27 an hour, lodgings at €33.42 a week or €4.77 a day. They count at those amounts only, whatever the meals or room are worth.

Hours and the pay reference period

Your hourly rate is your pay that counts divided by the hours you worked, over a pay reference period your employer chooses: a week, a fortnight or a month, but never longer than a month. Working hours are the longer of your contracted hours and the hours you actually worked or were available for work and paid; they include overtime, travel that is part of the job and approved training during normal hours, but not standby away from work, leave or travel to and from work. You can ask your employer for a written statement of your average hourly pay for any pay reference period in the last 12 months; they must give it within 4 weeks.

If you are paid less

Raise it with your employer first. You can then ask the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) to have an inspector investigate, or, once you have asked your employer for the statement of your average hourly pay, refer a dispute to a WRC adjudicator within 6 months of getting it. You are protected by law from victimisation or dismissal for asking to be paid the minimum wage (Citizens Information). The global minimum wage checker covers other countries.

Limitations

• One typical week is checked. Pay or hours that change from week to week need the check for each pay reference period.
• Not covered by the national minimum wage: people employed by a close relative and statutory apprentices; the checker says so if you tick those boxes.
• Sector rates under Employment Regulation Orders, which can be higher, are not included.
• An employer in financial difficulty can be exempted by the Labour Court from paying the full adult rate for 3 months to a year; such exemptions are not reflected.
• The result is not legal advice. The Workplace Relations Commission’s information service can help with a pay dispute.

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