Being made redundant lands as a shock even when you saw it coming. One week you have a role, the next you have a lump sum and a very quiet calendar. The good news: in Ireland you have clear legal entitlements, and the weeks straight after are the ones that decide how fast you land the next job. Here's what you're owed, and how to spend the runway your payout buys you.
First, Know the Difference: Redundancy Isn't Being Fired
Redundancy happens when your job ceases to exist — the role is gone, not you. That distinction matters, because it's what entitles you to a statutory redundancy payment and protects you from being quietly replaced. If your employer is dressing up a dismissal as a redundancy, or "restructuring" your role only to rehire for the same job, that's worth getting advice on from Citizens Information or the Workplace Relations Commission.
What You're Actually Owed
Your redundancy package is usually more than the one figure your employer quotes. Four things can be in play, and they're separate entitlements — don't let them be rolled into one number:
- Statutory redundancy pay. If you have at least 104 weeks (2 years) of continuous service, you're entitled to two weeks' gross pay for every year of service, plus one bonus week. The weekly pay used is capped at €600, and the whole amount is tax-free.
- Notice pay. Statutory notice (or pay in lieu) based on your length of service — on top of redundancy, not part of it.
- Unused annual leave and public holidays. Any days you accrued but didn't take must be paid out.
- Ex-gratia. Anything your employer pays above the statutory minimum. It's optional, and its tax treatment is different — separate Revenue exemptions apply.
Before you accept any figure, work out what the statutory minimum actually is so you know whether the offer is fair. Our free redundancy calculator for Ireland does it in seconds from your years of service and weekly pay.
How Statutory Redundancy Is Calculated
The formula is fixed by law:
((2 × years of service) + 1 bonus week) × weekly pay (capped at €600)
So someone with 10 years' service earning €700 a week is capped at €600: (2 × 10) + 1 = 21 weeks × €600 = €12,600, tax-free. If they earned €500 a week, it would be 21 × €500 = €10,500. Part-years count pro-rata, so don't round your service down.
If your employer is insolvent and genuinely can't pay, you don't lose your entitlement — statutory redundancy is paid from the State's Social Insurance Fund, and you apply through the Department of Social Protection. Keep your payslips and employment records to support the claim.
You can plug your own numbers into the redundancy calculator to get a tailored estimate, then check it against the official MyWelfare calculator before you sign anything.
The Next 90 Days Matter More Than the Lump Sum
Here's the part nobody tells you at the exit meeting: the payout is not the win. It's runway. What decides your outcome is how quickly your applications start turning into interviews — and the job market doesn't care that you were let go through no fault of your own. It only sees your CV.
Two things quietly work against people who've just been made redundant:
- A CV that reads for the job you just left. If your CV still describes your old role in your old employer's language, it won't match the roles you're now applying for. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both score relevance to the specific job in front of them — a generic CV competes on losing terms.
- A confidence dip that shows up in interviews. Redundancy dents your certainty, and interviewers hear it. The fix is reps: rehearsing your answers out loud before it counts, not in the room.
Spend the first fortnight on those two things, not on refreshing your bank balance. Update your CV to point at the roles you actually want, and get some interview practice in early.
Turn the Runway Into Callbacks
This is exactly where Ai-Vitae helps. Start with a free CV review — paste your CV and get a recruiter-readiness score and the weak phrases costing you callbacks, in about 30 seconds, no card needed. If you want it done for you, our job-matched rewrite aims your real experience at each specific advert you apply for, and you can rehearse a live mock interview out loud before you sit the real one. Pay once per document — never a subscription, which is the last thing you need while you're between roles.
Redundancy closes one door. How you use the next 90 days decides how fast the next one opens.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much redundancy pay will I get in Ireland?
Two weeks' gross pay per year of continuous service plus one bonus week, with weekly pay capped at €600 and the total paid tax-free. For 10 years' service that's 21 weeks — up to €12,600 if you're at or above the cap. Use the redundancy calculator for your own figure.
Is statutory redundancy pay taxed in Ireland?
No. Statutory redundancy is completely tax-free. Only ex-gratia amounts your employer pays above the statutory minimum may be partly taxable, and separate Revenue exemptions apply to those.
Do I qualify for redundancy if I've been there less than two years?
Statutory redundancy needs at least 104 weeks (2 years) of continuous service. But notice pay and unused annual leave are owed regardless of how long you've been there.
What happens if my employer can't afford to pay?
You're still entitled to statutory redundancy. When an employer is genuinely insolvent, the payment comes from the State's Social Insurance Fund via the Department of Social Protection. Keep your records to support the claim.
What should I do first after being made redundant?
Confirm what you're owed (redundancy, notice, holiday pay, any ex-gratia), then move fast on the job search: update your CV to target the roles you want and start interview practice early. The payout buys you time — the CV and interviews decide the outcome. A free CV review is a good first step.