Thousands of Irish workers set for extra day off next year due to rare bank holiday rule

Irish workers will be entitled to an extra day off next year due to a rare public holiday rule. 

Currently, employees enjoy the benefit of 10 public holidays which occur at various points during the calendar year. 

While most public holidays fall on Mondays, there are a few exceptions to the rule. 

Some public holidays, such as New Year’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day, are tied to certain dates and are not confined to Mondays. This means that they can fall on any day, including weekends. 

When one of these events falls on a weekend, workers are entitled to an additional day of annual leave or an extra day’s pay.

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Next year, St. Stephen’s Day will fall on a Saturday, meaning workers across the country will be entitled to a replacement day off or compensatory pay - for most, they will not be required to work on Monday, December 27. 

According to Citizens Information, if a public holiday falls on a day of the week which is not a normal working day for that business (for example, on Saturday or Sunday), workers are still entitled to benefit from that public holiday.

“However, you do not have any automatic legal entitlement to have the next working day off work,” they advise.

This means that employers must offer either a paid day off within a month of that day, an additional day of annual leave or an additional day of pay. 

Irish workers will be even more fortunate in 2027, when both Christmas Day and St. Stephen’s Day will fall on a weekend (Saturday and Sunday). 

In that scenario, most will benefit from a long four-day weekend.