It's never tax free but the tax rate is dependent on which route you take (there's two).
if you have a trivial pension of €330 per annum or less from an employer scheme, before tax free lump sum is deducted, you pay tax of 10% tax. You have to wait until the normal retirement age of the scheme, you can't access it early.
If you have a pension pot less than €30,000 after the tax free lump sum, the remainder is paid as a taxed lump sum subject to PAYE in the year it is paid.
Steven
http://www.bluewaterfp.ie (www.bluewaterfp.ie)