August Bank Holiday in Ireland 2027

A public holiday, not just a bank holiday

The August Bank Holiday is a public holiday across the Republic of Ireland, observed on the first Monday in August. Irish people say bank holiday out of habit, but the legal term is public holiday, and it carries a real entitlement. Under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, an employee is owed one of four things for each public holiday: a paid day off on the day itself, a paid day off within the following month, an extra day of annual leave, or an extra day's pay. The employer chooses which, though a worker can ask for a preferance at least 21 days ahead. Part-time staff qualify once they have worked 40 hours in the previous five weeks. There is no equivalent statutory right in the United States, where a paid holiday is a matter of company policy.

Why the first Monday in August

The date comes straight from the Bank Holidays Act 1871, drafted by the banker and Liberal MP Sir John Lubbock, which created the first statutory days on which banks could close without defautling on bills falling due, the act covered Ireland, then part of the United Kingdom, and set an August holiday on the first Monday of the month. Ireland has kept that date ever since. Britain has not: in 1971 the summer bank holiday there was moved to the last Monday in August, and Northern Ireland followed. The result is a quirk that cathces out cross-border travelers and anyone with business on both sides of the Irish Sea, since Dublin and Belfast take their August long weekends four weeks apart.

The last long weekend of summer

The August holiday is the peak of the Irish domestic travel year. Schools are still on their long break, the weather is as reliable as it gets, and traffic to Kerry, west Cork, Donegal and the Wild Atlantic Way builds from the Friday evening. Ferry and flight traffic to and from Britain rises sharply, and coastal towns run at capacity. It is also deep in the sporting calendar: the All-Ireland hurilng and football champinoships reach their closing stages in August, and the summer racing festivals fill the weekend! In Killorglin, County Kerry, the Puck Fair runs from August 10 to 12 each year, near the holiday but not tied to it.

What closes and what does not

Banks, government offices, courts and post offices close. Schools are already out for the summer. Most shops, supermarkets, restaurants, pubs and visitor attractions open and treat the day as one of the busiest of the year, though many run Sunday hours. Public transport shifts to a Sunday or holiday timetable, which regularly strands people who have not checked. Some businesses give staff the Tuesday as well, creating an unofficial four-day break.

How it fits the Irish calendar

Ireland has ten public holidays, fewer than most of western Europe and roughly comparable to the eleven US federal holidays. Five of them are Mondays created to make long weekends: the February holiday for St Brigid's Day added in 2023, the May, June, August and October holidays. The August one sits at the midpoint of the longest stretch of the year without a religious or civic anchor, which is exactly what Lubbock designed it to do.