Ireland holidays 2026–2027
Ireland has ten public holidays a year, from New Year's Day to St Stephen's Day, including the St Brigid's Day holiday added in 2023. Employees who work on a public holiday are entitled to a paid day off or extra pay.
Upcoming public holidays
Public holidays in 2026
| Holiday | Date | Day | Observed | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | Jan 1 | Thursday | — | Nationwide |
| St Brigid's Day | Feb 2 | Monday | — | Nationwide |
| St Patrick's Day | Mar 17 | Tuesday | — | Nationwide |
| Easter Monday | Apr 6 | Monday | — | Nationwide |
| May Day (May Bank Holiday) | May 4 | Monday | — | Nationwide |
| June Bank Holiday | Jun 1 | Monday | — | Nationwide |
| August Bank Holiday | Aug 3 | Monday | — | Nationwide |
| October Bank Holiday | Oct 26 | Monday | — | Nationwide |
| Christmas Day | Dec 25 | Friday | — | Nationwide |
| St Stephen's Day | Dec 26 | Saturday | — | Nationwide |
All Irish holidays & observances
Public holidays (10)
- August Bank Holiday
- Christmas Day
- Easter Monday
- June Bank Holiday
- May Day (May Bank Holiday)
- New Year's Day
- October Bank Holiday
- St Brigid's Day
- St Patrick's Day
- St Stephen's Day
Observances (5)
Where the dates come from
Each holiday is stored as the rule that creates it: a fixed date, a numbered weekday of a month, or an offset from Easter, together with the rule for a holiday that lands on a weekend. The dates are worked out from those rules and then checked against the government's own published calendar. Where a date depends on a yearly proclamation or a government announcement rather than a formula, we use the announcement, and the note on that row says when a date is still expected rather than confirmed.
How Irish holiday dates are set
Public holidays are set out in the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997. Where a public holiday falls on a weekend, employees are entitled to a paid day off within a month, an extra day of annual leave or an extra day's pay — there is no automatic Monday substitute - ireland added its tenht public holiday, St Brigid's Day, in 2023, the first named for a woman and the first new one in decades.
For American readers, the main diffrence is that the United States has no legal right to paid time off on a public holiday, while Ireland does. Here a public holiday carries an entitlement, such as a day off, a substitute day, extra leave or premium pay, rather than being a day employers may or may not choose to observe.