Irish workers less time off than EU colleagues

THE hard-working Irish get five days less paid holidays than the average employee in Europe, a survey has revealed.

The average Irish worker is entitled to a minimum of 29 days’ holidays, including nine public holidays. Only Britain and The Netherlands, with 28 days, have less. According to research by Mercer Human Resources Consulting, Ireland is well behind the EU average of 34 days’ annual leave. Workers in Finland have the most leisure time in the EU with 39 days off. The French don’t do badly either, with 36 days’ leave on top of a 35-hour week.

The EU’s work-time directive has led to the minimum annual leave here rising from 15 to 20 days. Now the union is looking at further moves to harmonise annual leave across member states and also the prospect of a new Europe Day public holiday.

The Small Firms Association (SFA) said it would be “extremely reluctant” to consider more holidays for workers. Each of the nine public holidays costs employers about 600m in extra wage costs. Many employers also provide time off on Good Friday, which is not a statutory public holiday.

“It would cause enormous difficulty if the EU tried to introduce standard holidays. But I think the workplace has improved enormously in the last five years, with a huge increase in flexible working hours and the introduction of parental leave,” said SFA director Pat Delaney. SIPTU said workers should be given more annual leave to reduce their working hours, which are long in comparison to the European average.

“There will have to be increases in productivity so that services don’t suffer,” said president Des Geraghty.

Although workers have less annual leave than the EU average, it still compares favourably with the situation in the US. Americans get just two weeks of annual leave and there is no obligation for states to observe the 10 federal public holidays.