If you look at the Revenue FAQs posted on a parallel thread, question 2 deals with tax relief. This says:
"Relief is allowed against relevant earnings, i.e. earnings from a trade, profession, office or employment. Earnings as a proprietary director or proprietary employee of an investment company are not relevant earnings. Net relevant earnings are relevant earnings less losses, capital allowances and certain payments which reduce a person’s income for tax purposes such as tax effective convenants."
Therefore, the worker will not get tax relief unless he/she has a source of taxable earnings. Even in this case, there are limits to the amount of tax relief available.
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