Irish workers are among the worst off when it comes to the number of holidays they get a year compared with their European colleagues, research published today found.
The Republic's workforce gets on average 29 days of combined leave and public holidays annually, compared with the 42 days employees in Sweden get.
Ireland ranks the lowest out of the 15 older member states in the European Union (EU15) when it comes to getting time off, according to the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) report.
Even when the new Eastern bloc accession states are taken into account, Ireland still ranks fourth worst off after Estonia (26 days), Latvia (27 days) and Hungary (28 days).
On average, workers in the EU15 have 35.6 days of annual leave and public holidays combined, while workers in the 12 new member states have 31.3 days.
After Sweden, the countries with the greatest number of days' leave are Germany (40 days), Italy (39 days), Luxembourg and Denmark (38 days each).
The Eurofound research shows a sharp contrast in holiday entitlement across the continent with some countries having almost three and a half working weeks more time off than others.