Somewhere in Ireland this morning, a woman in her early fifties sat through a meeting she could not concentrate on and went home wondering whether she is simply not up to the job any more. She almost certainly is. What she is experiencing is menopause, and it is one of the most common and least discussed workplace health issues in the country. Roughly 600,000 women in Ireland are in perimenopause or menopause at any one time, and most of them are working.
TL;DR
- Around 600,000 women in Ireland are in perimenopause or menopause at any given time, and most are in paid work.
- Research from University of Galway and University College Cork found 68% of workers surveyed said menopause was not a topic of conversation at work, and only about one in twelve had raised it with a manager.
- Roughly one in ten women leave their job because of the severity of menopause symptoms, and many more quietly reduce hours or step back from promotion.
- Ireland has no menopause-specific legislation, but the Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2015 cover gender, age and disability, and the Labour Court has already found against an employer who failed to consider reasonable accommodation.
- Since 1 June 2025, HRT is available free of charge from participating pharmacies for people registered for the Drugs Payment Scheme or holding a medical card.
What the Irish evidence actually shows
Researchers at University of Galway and University College Cork surveyed more than 1,600 workers across seven Irish public sector organisations. The headline finding was not that symptoms are severe, though for many they are. It was that almost nobody talks about them.
Sixty-eight per cent of respondents said menopause was simply not a topic of conversation in their workplace. Only around one in twelve women had spoken to a manager about it. Meanwhile, 37% of the men surveyed said they did not feel well informed about menopause, which matters given how many line managers in Irish organisations are men.
The cost of that silence is measurable. Irish workplace surveys have found that roughly one in ten women leave their jobs because of symptom severity, while others step back from promotion opportunities or cut their hours. These are experienced people at the peak of their working lives, and organisations are losing them for reasons that are almost entirely fixable.
The symptoms that actually affect work
Hot flushes get all the attention, but they are rarely what pushes someone towards the door. The symptoms women most often report as affecting their working life are cognitive: difficulty concentrating, word-finding problems and memory lapses. Fatigue comes next, driven largely by disrupted sleep, then anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, and a loss of professional confidence that can be harder to shake than any physical symptom.
That last one deserves emphasis. Many women describe privately concluding that they have become incompetent. They have not. Brain fog during perimenopause is well documented, usually temporary, and unrelated to underlying ability.
Where you stand legally in Ireland
There is no standalone menopause legislation here, and no legal requirement to have a menopause policy. That does not mean employers have no obligations.
The Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2015 prohibit discrimination on nine grounds, three of them directly relevant: gender, age and disability. Treating menopause-related absence or performance differently from any other health condition can amount to discrimination. Where symptoms are severe and long-lasting, they may meet the legal definition of a disability, which brings a duty to provide reasonable accommodation.
The Labour Court has already tested this. In the case of Siobhán McNally and the Rotunda Hospital, an employee whose difficulties included the effects of menopause was retired early on grounds of incapacity without any attempt at reasonable accommodation. The Court found direct discrimination and awarded compensation. The principle is simple: you have to at least consider adjustments before you act.
Two other laws matter. The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 obliges employers to assess risks to employee health, and temperature, ventilation, toilet access and uniform design all fall within that. The Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 gives employees with six months’ service the right to request remote or flexible working, with a proper response required within four weeks.
Adjustments that genuinely help
Most useful menopause accommodations cost very little. The ones women rate highest:
- Temperature control: a desk fan, a seat away from direct sun, or permission to open a window.
- Uniform flexibility: breathable fabrics, layered options, no rigid rules about jackets in warm rooms.
- Flexible start times. A broken night is far less damaging if you can start at ten rather than eight.
- Demanding work scheduled for the time of day the person actually functions best.
- A quiet space and easy access to toilets and cold drinking water.
- Time off for medical appointments treated as routine, not as something requiring explanation.
- Occasional remote working on difficult days, often the single most valued adjustment of all.
If you are the employee
You are not obliged to disclose anything. But if symptoms are affecting your work, a short, factual conversation usually goes better than months of quiet struggle. Frame it in terms of what you need rather than what you are experiencing: “I’m having significant sleep disruption at the moment and I’d work better with a later start for a few months.”
Go to your GP first. Symptoms overlap with thyroid problems, anaemia and depression, all common after 45, so it is worth being properly assessed rather than assuming. Since 1 June 2025, HRT has been free of charge at participating pharmacies for anyone with a medical card or registered for the Drugs Payment Scheme, covering all stages of menopause including perimenopause and early or medically induced menopause. The HSE hosts a finder for participating pharmacies on hse.ie.
If your situation is more complicated, for example a history of blood clots, cardiovascular disease or hormone-sensitive cancer, your GP can refer you to one of the six specialist complex menopause clinics: the National Maternity Hospital, the Rotunda, the Coombe, Cork University Maternity Hospital, University Hospital Galway and Nenagh Hospital. Referral is by GP letter or through Healthlink.
If you are the employer
A policy document nobody reads changes nothing. What changes things is manager training, because the manager is the person an employee actually has to talk to. Give line managers a basic understanding of symptoms, a clear list of adjustments they can approve without escalation, and explicit permission to handle the conversation with discretion.
Beyond that: name menopause explicitly in your sick leave and performance policies so it is not treated as an unexplained dip, review your risk assessment for temperature and facilities, and remember that occupational health referrals should support the employee rather than build a case against them.
The bigger picture
Menopause lasts several years and arrives precisely when many women are at their most experienced. Losing them is expensive and entirely avoidable. The organisations getting this right are not doing anything elaborate: they talk about it openly, train their managers, and say yes to small requests. At Críonna Health we treat ageing as something to be supported well rather than endured quietly, and the workplace is one of the places where that support matters most.
This article is for general information and is not a substitute for individual medical advice. Speak to your GP about symptoms and treatment options.
📷 Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash
