Every field service business owner hits it eventually. An engineer who was fine at the start is now the one generating callbacks, missing appointments, or turning in work the others have to redo. You have had the quiet words, nothing has changed, and you are wondering how to let them go without it blowing up in your face. In Ireland, that last part is where owners get caught, because you can have a perfectly good reason to dismiss someone and still lose an unfair dismissal case at the Workplace Relations Commission, purely because of how you went about it.

Most UK-focused advice gets this part wrong for an Irish business. The frameworks are different, the qualifying periods are different, and the body that hears the claim is different. If you employ people in the Republic of Ireland, the rules below are the ones that apply to you, not the ACAS process you may have read about. Our UK guide to dismissing an underperforming employee covers the ACAS-based process in full and carries a short Ireland summary; this is the dedicated Irish version, walking through what a fair dismissal for poor performance actually looks like here, and where the traps are. It sits alongside our other guides for Irish operators, from VAT for field service businesses in Ireland to business grants across Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Reason and procedure: you need both

Irish dismissal law rests on two things, and you have to satisfy both. The first is that you have a fair reason. The second is that you followed a fair procedure. Get the reason right but the procedure wrong, and the dismissal can still be found unfair. That single point costs Irish employers the most, so sit with it for a second: a genuinely underperforming employee, sacked for a genuine reason, can still win a case against you if you skipped the steps.

The law here is the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2015, supported by the WRC's Code of Practice on Grievance and Disciplinary Procedures. Under that framework, the burden of proof sits with you, the employer. The employee does not have to prove the dismissal was unfair; you have to prove it was fair, in both reason and process. That is a meaningful difference in mindset from assuming you can let someone go and justify it later.

The fair reasons, and where performance fits

Irish law recognises only a limited set of grounds on which a dismissal can be fair, set out in Section 6(4) of the Unfair Dismissals Acts. They are capability, competence, or qualifications; conduct; genuine redundancy; the fact that continuing to employ the person would break the law; and other substantial grounds that justify dismissal.

Poor performance falls under capability and competence, and it helps to be clear which you are dealing with, because they are treated slightly differently. Capability is about whether the person can do the job, often tied to health, attendance, or an inability to keep up with the requirements. Competence is about skill and standard, whether their work is up to the mark. Most "this engineer just is not performing" situations are competence issues, and the law expects you to give the person a genuine chance to reach the standard before you dismiss them. You cannot go from a quiet word straight to the door. That improvement route often works out better for the business anyway, since with engineers in short supply across the trades, keeping and developing someone you already have usually beats replacing them, a point that runs through the wider skills shortage every field service firm is dealing with.

The 12-month rule

One of the biggest differences from the UK shows up here. In Ireland, an employee generally needs 12 months of continuous service to bring an ordinary unfair dismissal claim, not two years. So the window in which you can part ways relatively simply is shorter than many owners who are used to UK rules assume.

That 12-month threshold is not a free pass, though, and this is where people get caught. Certain dismissals are automatically unfair regardless of how long the person has worked for you, with no qualifying period at all. These include dismissals connected to pregnancy or maternity, trade union membership or activity, making a protected disclosure, which is whistleblowing, or an employee exercising their statutory rights. Dismiss someone for one of those reasons, or in a way that looks like it, and length of service will not protect you. So even with a new employee, you cannot dismiss for a reason that touches any of those areas.

What a fair procedure actually looks like

This is the heart of it, and the part to get right, because procedure is where most claims are won and lost. For poor performance, a fair process generally runs along these lines.

It starts informally. Before anything formal, the employee should know there is a problem. A quiet, documented conversation setting out where the work is falling short, and giving them a chance to explain, often resolves things and is expected before you escalate. Sometimes there is a reason you did not know about.

If that does not work, you move to a structured improvement process. This usually means a Performance Improvement Plan, a PIP, that spells out clearly where the performance is short, what the required standard is, what support or training you will provide, and a reasonable timeframe to get there, commonly around eight to twelve weeks, though longer for complex roles. The plan has to be genuine, with achievable targets and real support, not a paper exercise designed to build a dismissal file. The WRC can see through the latter, and dismissing for capability without an adequate PIP is one of the most common reasons employers lose these claims.

Alongside or after the PIP comes the formal warnings stage, and Irish practice generally follows a progression: a verbal warning, then a first written warning, then a final written warning, each with a period in which the employee can improve, before dismissal is on the table. At each formal step, the employee has the right to be told the case against them in advance and in writing, the right to respond at a proper hearing, and the right to be accompanied at that hearing, usually by a colleague or a trade union representative, though not, as a rule, by an external solicitor. They also have a right of appeal against decisions. Do not spring a same-day hearing on someone, even where the problem seems obvious: giving proper advance notice is a basic requirement, and ambushing an employee is one of the procedural failures that most reliably ends up costing an employer at the WRC. Skipping any of these steps is exactly the kind of flaw the WRC penalises.

Only when that process has genuinely run its course, and the performance still has not reached the standard, does dismissal become defensible. Even then, dismissal has to be a proportionate response: the WRC expects it to be the step you reach when lesser sanctions have not worked, not an automatic outcome, so you should hold a final meeting where the employee can make their case before the decision is confirmed, and offer a right of appeal.

Documentation: your evidence if it ever goes to the WRC

If a claim is lodged, the case will very often turn on your records. WRC adjudicators rely heavily on contemporaneous documentation, the notes, letters, and plans created at the time, and where an employer cannot produce them, the employee's account tends to carry more weight.

That means every stage needs to leave a paper trail: the informal conversation, the PIP and its targets, each warning, the minutes of each meeting, the support offered, and the employee's responses. That paper trail is the difference between defending a claim successfully and paying out. A business that already runs on organised records, where performance notes, meeting minutes, and documents are captured and stored properly rather than living in someone's memory, is in a far stronger position if it ever has to stand over a dismissal. The same discipline that keeps your HR compliance in order generally is what protects you here specifically.

What it costs to get wrong

The reason all of this matters is the exposure. An employee with the required service who wins an unfair dismissal claim at the WRC can be awarded compensation of up to two years' remuneration, and the WRC can also order reinstatement or re-engagement. Claims must generally be brought within six months of the dismissal, extendable to twelve in limited circumstances, so the risk does not disappear the moment the person leaves.

Set that potential cost against the modest effort of running a proper process, and the case for doing it right is obvious. Most unfair dismissal awards are not because the employer had no reason; they are because the employer had a reason but cut corners on procedure. The corners are cheap to avoid.

A note on gross misconduct

One tempting shortcut deserves a clear warning. Where an employee does something serious, dishonesty, a safety breach, violence, you may be able to dismiss for gross misconduct without the full warnings process, through summary dismissal. Treating an ordinary performance problem as gross misconduct to skip the procedure, though, is one of the riskiest moves an employer can make. If the WRC decides the conduct did not truly meet the gross misconduct threshold, the dismissal is likely to be found unfair on both substance and procedure. Even genuine gross misconduct still requires a fair process: an investigation, a chance for the employee to respond, and a considered decision. Summary does not mean instant or informal.

Key Takeaways

Dismissing an underperforming employee in Ireland is entirely doable, but it rewards patience and process over speed. You need a fair reason, poor performance sits under capability and competence, and you need to follow a fair procedure: informal warning, a genuine improvement plan, progressive formal warnings with the right to respond and be represented, and a right of appeal, all properly documented. Remember the 12-month service threshold, but never rely on it where any automatically unfair ground could be in play.

Do it properly and you can part ways with a poor performer while protecting the business from a costly WRC claim. Rush it, or copy a process designed for a different country, and you hand a genuinely underperforming employee the one thing that can turn your reasonable decision into a payout: a procedural flaw.

This guide is general guidance, not legal advice, and Irish employment law is complex and fact-specific. Before dismissing any employee, check the current guidance from the Workplace Relations Commission and Citizens Information, or take advice from a qualified employment law professional.

FAQs

How long does an employee need to work before they can claim unfair dismissal in Ireland?

Generally, an employee needs 12 months of continuous service to bring an ordinary unfair dismissal claim under the Unfair Dismissals Acts, which is shorter than the UK's two-year period. However, certain dismissals are automatically unfair with no qualifying period at all, including those connected to pregnancy or maternity, trade union membership, making a protected disclosure (whistleblowing), or exercising statutory rights. So even with an employee of under 12 months, you cannot dismiss for a reason that falls into one of those categories.

Can I dismiss someone for poor performance in Ireland?

Yes, poor performance is a fair reason for dismissal under the headings of capability and competence, but only if you also follow a fair procedure. That generally means making the employee aware of the shortfall, giving them a genuine chance to improve through a structured process such as a Performance Improvement Plan, issuing progressive warnings with the right to respond and be represented, and offering a right of appeal, all before dismissal. A valid reason alone is not enough; the process matters just as much.

What makes a dismissal unfair in Ireland even when there is a good reason?

A flawed procedure. Under Irish law the employer must show both a fair reason and a fair process, and the Workplace Relations Commission regularly finds dismissals unfair on procedure alone, even where the underlying reason was valid. Common failures include not warning the employee, not giving them a chance to respond or be represented, not offering an improvement opportunity for performance issues, and not allowing an appeal. The burden of proving fairness rests with the employer.

What is a Performance Improvement Plan and do I need one?

A Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) is a structured plan that sets out clearly where an employee's performance is falling short, the standard required, the support or training that will be provided, and a reasonable timeframe to improve. For a performance-based dismissal in Ireland, a genuine improvement process like a PIP is generally expected before you move to dismissal, because the law requires you to give the employee a real opportunity to reach the standard. The plan must be genuine, with achievable targets, not a paper exercise to justify a dismissal already decided.

How much can an unfair dismissal claim cost an employer in Ireland?

An employee who succeeds in an unfair dismissal claim at the WRC can be awarded compensation of up to two years' remuneration, and the WRC can also order reinstatement or re-engagement. Claims must generally be brought within six months of the dismissal, extendable to twelve months in limited circumstances. Because most awards result from procedural failures rather than a lack of valid reason, following a proper process is the most cost-effective protection an employer has.