Employing under-18s in licensed premises in Ireland: hours, breaks and the code of practice

Teenagers clearing glasses on a Saturday night or plating desserts in a hotel kitchen are part of Irish hospitality. The law that governs them is the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act 1996, not the Organisation of Working Time Act, and for pubs, hotels and restaurants with a drinks licence there's an extra layer: the 2001 Licensed Premises Regulations (S.I. No. 350/2001) and the Code of Practice in their Schedule. This guide pulls it together for a manager writing a roster, with every hour limit checked against the WRC and Citizens Information.

Who counts as a child or a young person

• Child: under 16 (in practice, 14 and 15-year-olds, since under-14s can't be employed in ordinary jobs).
• Young person: 16 or 17.

The Act doesn't apply to children or young people employed by a close relative. If an under-18 works for more than one employer, the combined hours can't go over the limits.

The limits at a glance

Sources: Citizens Information and the WRC. Approved work experience programmes allow up to 40 hours a week for under-16s.

What 16 and 17-year-olds can do in a pub, hotel bar or restaurant

S.I. No. 350/2001 covers young persons employed on general duties in licensed premises, meaning premises with a drinks licence where any part is used to sell food or drink for consumption there. That takes in pubs, hotel bars and licensed restaurants.

"General duties" does not include supplying alcohol from behind the bar counter, or supplying it for consumption off the premises. So a 17-year-old can collect glasses, clear and reset tables, run food, work in the kitchen and help on the floor. They shouldn't be pulling pints or running the off-sales.

The 11pm rule

The general limit for 16 and 17-year-olds is a 10pm finish. The Regulations let an employer in licensed premises roster a young person on general duties until 11pm on a day that is not immediately before a school day during term, and in that case they can't start before 7am the next day. Citizens Information gives the plain example: a Friday until 11pm is fine if there's no school on Saturday; a Sunday until 11pm isn't if there's school on Monday.

Don't forget the 12-hour daily rest. After an 11pm finish, the earliest legal start the next day is 11am, not 7am. The 7am rule is a floor; the 12 hours is what actually limits you.

The Code of Practice for licensed premises

The Code is set out in the Schedule to S.I. No. 350/2001 and was agreed by the Irish Hotels Federation, the Licensed Vintners Association, the Restaurants Association of Ireland, the Vintners Federation of Ireland, trade unions and the National Parents Council post primary. An employer of young persons on general duties must have regard to it. In summary it asks you to:

• Get written permission from a parent or guardian before employing the young person, and talk with them about how the young person gets home after work.
• See a birth certificate or other satisfactory evidence of age.
• Give written terms at the start, including the rate of pay and starting and finishing times, and specify the types of work they may be asked to do.
• Display the official abstract of the 1996 Act and give the young person a copy of its summary.
• Train them at induction, and give them written copies of the Code, their terms, the summary of the Act, and any relevant collective agreement or employment regulation order.
• Allow for exams. Make provision for study and exam leave, with their job protected when they come back; the employee should give at least 4 weeks' notice.
• Make sure they get their full rights under the Organisation of Working Time Act, including annual leave, public holiday benefit and Sunday premium.

The Code also includes a short form for the employer, the young person and a parent or guardian to sign. Keep a signed copy on file.

Pay: €9.91 an hour and the usual rights

From 1 January 2026 the national minimum wage is €14.15 an hour (S.I. No. 472/2025). Under-18s are guaranteed 70% of that: €9.91 an hour. You can pay more. Under-18s still get payslips, annual leave, public holiday benefit, Sunday premium and the same protections on tips as everyone else.

Records, posters and paperwork

On top of your normal employment records, the WRC and Citizens Information say you must keep, for every employee under 18:

• full name and date of birth;
• the time work starts and finishes each day;
• the rate of pay and the total paid.

Keep these for at least 3 years. You must also display the official summary (abstract) of the 1996 Act where staff can easily read it, and give each under-18 a copy of that summary along with their terms of employment within one month of starting. For under-16s, you need a copy of their birth certificate and a parent or guardian's written permission before they start.

Citizens Information says employers convicted of an offence under the Act can be fined up to €4,000, plus €500 a day for a continuing offence.

A worked roster for a 17-year-old in a gastropub

Seán is 17 and in school. He works weekends in a food-led pub, on general duties. An illustrative week during term:

That's 18.5 hours worked. Saturday is the tight one: his shift is 8 hours including the break, so he works 7.5, inside the 8-hour daily maximum. If you wanted him until 11pm on Saturday instead, the shift would need to start no earlier than 3pm to stay within 8 hours.

14 and 15-year-olds in hospitality

The licensed premises Regulations and Code only cover 16 and 17-year-olds. A 14 or 15-year-old can only do light work within the child limits: nothing before 8am or after 8pm, 35 hours a week at most in the holidays, and for 15-year-olds no more than 8 hours a week in term (14-year-olds can't work in term at all). In a pub or hotel, that usually means daytime kitchen or café work in the summer, finishing well before the evening trade.

Rostering under-18s safely

• Tag every under-18 on the roster so whoever builds or changes it sees the limits.
• Plan the 10pm and 11pm finishes first, then work back to the start time and break.
• Check the next-day start against 12 hours' rest (14 for under-16s).
• Watch exam season. Build in the study leave the Code expects.
• Keep the start and finish times they actually worked, not just the planned roster.

How ShiftComplete helps

ShiftComplete gives every staff member their own roster on their phone, so a 16-year-old sees exactly when they start and finish. Staff set availability weeks ahead, which helps you plan around school and exams. With time tracking switched on, staff clock in and out and you can download actual hours with a total per person, which is the start and finish record the register needs. It helps you keep the records a WRC inspector asks to see; checking the limits is still your job. €1.99 per active staff member per month, free for 60 days, no card.