Aoife Gallagher-Watson is director in employment law at EY Law Ireland.
A specialist in the areas of employment and work health and safety law, Aoife has over 15 years’ experience working in-house and with top-tier law employment teams in Ireland and overseas.
She has worked with a range of clients across regulated and unregulated industries, advising on contentious and non-contentious employment matters.
Aoife also has extensive experience in advising and representing companies and senior executives in connection with work health and safety obligations, regulatory investigations and prosecutions.
EY Law Ireland
Tel: 01-4750555
Email: Aoife.Gallagher-Watson@ie.ey.com
www.ey.com
Deirdre leads EY Law Ireland’s employment law team, advising clients on day-to-day employment law queries arising at every stage of the employment relationship. She also advises on strategic workforce planning, workforce restructuring and HR transactions providing straightforward, practical solutions to her clients.
Deirdre is a longstanding member of the Law Society of Ireland’s Employment and Equality Committee. In January 2025, she was appointed to the Employment Law Review Group (ELRG) by the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment to support with the ELRG’s function to monitor, review and advise on all aspects of employment and redundancy law in Ireland, with a specific focus on promoting good workplace relations and simplifying the operation of employment and redundancy law.
Combining employment law expertise with a commercial and solution-driven focus, Deirdre is highly regarded by clients. She is ranked by Chambers and Partners (Europe Edition) and Legal 500 for her work in employment law.
A recent WRC case, McGrath -v- Net Smart Security Limited, highlighted some common pitfalls for employers dealing with maternity and other types of family leave in the workplace. The Employment Team at EY Law Ireland have pulled together a useful round up of family leave entitlements in Ireland.
What happened in McGrath v Net Smart Security Limited?
The Complainant filed a number of complaints 1 with the Workplace Relations Commission following issues that arose both during her pregnancy and after periods of maternity and parental leave. The Adjudicator found that the Complainant was discriminated against on the gender and family status grounds, awarding €50,000 in compensation (almost 2 years’ salary), emphasising the need to ensure that there is
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