How many bank holidays are there in Ireland?

Ten. Nine come from the Second Schedule to the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 and the tenth, in February, was created by S.I. No. 50 of 2022 and first fell in 2023.

What happens if a bank holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday?

Nothing moves. Irish law provides no substitute day when a public holiday falls at a weekend. What you are entitled to is one of four things the employer chooses between under section 21(1) of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, and one of those is an additional day’s pay.

Is Good Friday a public holiday in Ireland?

No. Good Friday is not in the Second Schedule and is not prescribed by any instrument under it. Many businesses close, which is a custom rather than an entitlement. Easter Monday is the public holiday.

Irish public holidays in 2026

Ireland has ten public holidays. Their dates are not fixed in a list anywhere — they are RULES in a schedule to an Act, so every year’s calendar has to be worked out from the same source. That is how this page is built, which is why next year’s will be right too.

Irish public holidays in 2026: the date, the day it falls on, and the rule that produces it.
Holiday	Date	Day	The rule
New Year’s Day	1 January 2026	Thursday	a fixed calendar date
St Brigid’s Day	2 February 2026	Monday	the first Monday of the month, the 1st not being a Friday
St Patrick’s Day	17 March 2026	Tuesday	a fixed calendar date
Easter Monday	6 April 2026	Monday	the day after Easter Sunday
May Day	4 May 2026	Monday	the first Monday of the month
June bank holiday	1 June 2026	Monday	the first Monday of the month
August bank holiday	3 August 2026	Monday	the first Monday of the month
October bank holiday	26 October 2026	Monday	the last Monday of the month
Christmas Day	25 December 2026	Friday	a fixed calendar date
St Stephen’s Day	26 December 2026	Saturday	a fixed calendar date

Irish public holidays in 2026: the date, the day it falls on, and the rule that produces it. Resolved from the statutory rules in this site's payload, not from a stored list of dates.

Why this calendar is worked out rather than looked up

Irish public holidays are not a list of dates anywhere in law. The Second Schedule to the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 sets out rules: Christmas Day, St Stephen’s Day, St Patrick’s Day, Easter Monday, the first Monday in May, the first Monday in June, the first Monday in August, the last Monday in October, and the 1st day of January.

Every date in the table above is produced by evaluating one of those rules for 2026. That is why the fourth column exists, and it is the thing this page has that a printed calendar does not: if you disagree with a date, you can see which rule produced it and check the rule.

Source: Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, Second Schedule, paragraph 1

The tenth holiday, and its exception

The February holiday is newer than the rest and it is not in the Act. It was prescribed under paragraph 1(g) of the Second Schedule by S.I. No. 50 of 2022 — the instrument whose title is about the Covid-19 commemoration, which is why it is hard to find if you go looking for a St Brigid’s Day regulation. Regulation 4 appoints the first Monday in February 2023 and every year after.

Regulation 5 is the part almost every calendar omits. It says regulation 4 does not apply in a year where 1 February falls on a Friday, and that in such a year 1 February itself is the public holiday instead. In 2026 that exception does not bite — 1 February is a Sunday, so the holiday is the first Monday, 2 February 2026. The next year it does bite is 2030.

Source: S.I. No. 50/2022 — Organisation of Working Time (Covid-19 Commemoration) Regulations 2022, regulations 4 and 5

Which ones give you a long weekend

Six of the ten fall on a Monday by rule, so those are long weekends by construction. The fixed-date holidays are the ones to check, and in 2026 they land as follows:

New Year’s Day — Thursday, 1 January 2026
St Patrick’s Day — Tuesday, 17 March 2026
Christmas Day — Friday, 25 December 2026
St Stephen’s Day — Saturday, 26 December 2026

Public holidays falling at a weekend in 2026. None of them moves.
Holiday	Date	Day
St Stephen’s Day	26 December 2026	Saturday

Public holidays falling at a weekend in 2026. None of them moves. The Second Schedule provides no substitute day; see the entitlement page for what you get instead.

And no, they do not move. Ireland provides no substitute day for a public holiday that falls at a weekend. That is not an oversight in the drafting — it follows from what the entitlement actually is. Section 21(1) does not give you a day off; it gives your employer a choice between 4 things:

a paid day off on that day
a paid day off within a month of that day
an additional day of annual leave
an additional day’s pay

A holiday on a Saturday simply means the employer is choosing between the other three. The entitlement page sets out the conditions, including the one that catches part-time workers.

Questions people ask about this calendar

How many bank holidays are there in Ireland?: Ten. Nine come from the Second Schedule to the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 and the tenth, in February, was created by S.I. No. 50 of 2022 and first fell in 2023.
What happens if a bank holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday?: Nothing moves. Irish law provides no substitute day when a public holiday falls at a weekend. What you are entitled to is one of four things the employer chooses between under section 21(1) of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, and one of those is an additional day’s pay.
Is Good Friday a public holiday in Ireland?: No. Good Friday is not in the Second Schedule and is not prescribed by any instrument under it. Many businesses close, which is a custom rather than an entitlement. Easter Monday is the public holiday.