Public holidays in Ireland, 2026

How Ireland public holidays work in 2026

Ireland recognises ten public holidays under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, raised from nine by the addition of Saint Brigid's Day on the first Monday of February in 2023, the first new Irish public holiday since the 1990s. The list includes New Year's Day, Saint Patrick's Day, Easter Monday, the first Mondays of May, June, August and October, Christmas Day and Saint Stephen's Day on 26 December. Good Friday is widely observed by closures and historically by a pub trading ban until the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2018 lifted the restriction, but it has never been a statutory public holiday under the 1997 Act.

Working days in Ireland

Working day in Irish civil procedure and the Interpretation Act 2005 typically means any day except Saturday, Sunday and a public holiday. The standard private-sector week is Monday to Friday with banks operating Monday to Friday. Statutory annual leave under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 is four working weeks, twenty days for a five-day week. Bank settlement of euro transactions runs on TARGET2 since Ireland joined the eurozone in 1999; domestic Irish bank-to-bank clearing uses the Central Bank of Ireland's calendar, which mirrors the ten statutory public holidays.

For people planning cross-border meetings, the practical move is to overlay Ireland's calendar with the calendars of the other countries on your team. A week that looks completely clear from your end might be a national holiday on theirs. The compare tool above pairs two country calendars and highlights the overlapping closures, so you can spot the weeks where almost no one is at their desk before you put a launch on the board.