The Tánaiste has said he intends to bring in five new workers' rights - including an extra bank holiday.
It comes as the Local Enterprise Office network recorded a net increase of almost 3,000 jobs last year.
It followed a year of net job losses in many businesses in 2020.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the figures are encouraging, and Government will do more to support businesses and workers.
He said: “There’s going to be five new workers’ rights - statutory sick pay; the right to request remote working; the protection of tips; new redundancy rights for people who were laid off during the pandemic; and an additional public holiday to bring us more in line with our European peers.”
The Government has previously said it’s considering an extra bank holiday this year, to give people an additional break in light of the pandemic’s impact over the past two years.
However, they’ve also suggested a permanent extra bank holiday could be on the way from 2023 onwards - potentially coinciding with St Brigid’s Day on February 1st.
Several European countries have 11, 12 or 13 bank holidays every year, compared to just nine in Ireland.
The Government has also previously announced its plans around the other workers' rights, including proposed legislation around tipping and plans for remote working to become a "permanent fixture" of Irish working life.
