Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We will keep this under review and if we find cases of people who are being refused their annual leave, we will take legislative action if we need to. It is important to say that people can carry over their annual leave for six months into the next year and that we are encouraging people to take their annual leave, because people need a break and to rest. Even if they cannot travel abroad or outside of their county, they should still take that leave, break and rest. People in the public service are being encouraged to do that and I am told by the authorities that they are not being refused annual leave. We do not want people choosing to bank their annual leave and then taking two or three months in a block next year or the year after, because it could undermine the delivery of public services if large numbers of people chose not to take their leave this year and took a significant amount of leave next year.

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