Bank Holidays Ireland 2027: Dates and Work Entitlements

What are the public holiday dates in 2027?

Ireland has ten statutory public holidays. The dates below apply to the Republic of Ireland; do not use them as a Northern Ireland employment calendar. The fixed holidays and Monday-based rules are set out in Irish legislation and explained by the Workplace Relations Commission.

The Financial Support Services Unit’s Irish school-sector payroll calendar and the European Commission’s EURES calendar also list the Irish dates for 2027. Its separate bank closure entries after Christmas should not be read as extra statutory public holidays. Your entitlement for a weekend holiday and the day a bank or workplace closes are related practical issues, but they are not the same legal test.

Use this as the national public holiday calendar, then check your employer’s roster and any service-specific timetable. A public holiday date alone cannot tell you whether a particular shop opens, a payment arrives early or your own shift is cancelled.

Do you get Monday and Tuesday off after Christmas?

Christmas Day falls on Saturday and St Stephen’s Day on Sunday in 2027. Employees who qualify still have a public holiday benefit even when the holiday is not a normal working day for the business. The WRC explicitly says there is no legal entitlement to have the next working day off in that situation.

This means you should not assume Monday 27 December 2027 and Tuesday 28 December 2027 are automatically paid days away from work for every employee. EURES lists those dates as bank holidays, but bank closure conventions do not create a universal employment entitlement to those particular days off.

Your employer may close on those days, grant substitute paid time off, provide additional annual leave or make the appropriate additional payment. Ask which arrangement applies to each Christmas public holiday and how it will appear on your roster or payslip. A workplace policy or contract can provide terms beyond the legal minimum.

Before booking flights, get the closure arrangements and leave approval in writing. If your normal schedule includes weekends, ask how working the actual Christmas public holiday will be treated. A colleague on a weekday-only roster may have a different practical arrangement while both receive the applicable public holiday benefit.

What public holiday benefit can your employer provide?

The WRC lists the alternatives your employer may determine: a paid day off on the public holiday, a paid day off within a month, an additional day of annual leave or an additional day of pay. Do not assume that only the first option counts as the public holiday benefit.

If the business is closed and you would normally have been due to work, the WRC says you receive your normal day’s pay. If the business is open and you work, you receive pay for the work in accordance with your agreed rates and also have entitlement to a public holiday benefit.

This does not create an automatic promise of a particular premium described as double time. Your agreed rates, work pattern and the benefit selected all matter. Ask payroll to explain the ordinary pay and public holiday benefit separately if the payslip description is unclear.

For someone who is not normally rostered to work on the holiday, the WRC describes an entitlement of one-fifth of normal weekly wages extra. Use the official guidance or ask the WRC about the calculation if your hours vary. A general calendar cannot settle an individual pay calculation without the work pattern.

Do part-time and newly hired workers qualify?

The WRC says full-time workers have immediate entitlement to public holiday benefit. For part-time workers, the published test is a total of 40 hours worked in the previous 5 weeks. Check the relevant period for the holiday rather than assuming that a part-time contract either always qualifies or never qualifies.

Keep your roster, time records and payslips if you work irregular shifts. They help show whether the qualifying hours were worked and what your normal pattern was. If you are newly hired, ask payroll to confirm how the rule has been applied to your employment rather than relying on a colleague’s longer service.

Working in a shop, hotel, care service or other business that opens on a holiday does not remove the entitlement. The question is which benefit applies to your situation and how it is provided. Compare your written terms with the statutory guidance if your contract describes special holiday arrangements.

If you have left a job close to a public holiday, there can also be a final-pay entitlement under the WRC’s stated conditions. Ask the employer to explain the final calculation and consult the WRC if the answer is unclear. Avoid assuming that leaving employment automatically cancels every entitlement connected with that holiday.

Is Good Friday a public holiday in Ireland?

The WRC says Good Friday is not a public holiday and is a normal working day. A bank, office or employer may close under its own arrangements, but that does not turn it into a statutory public holiday for all employees. Check your own workplace policy before treating the day as paid leave.

Easter Monday is a statutory public holiday and falls on Monday 29 March 2027. If you want a longer Easter break, identify which surrounding working days you would need approved as annual leave. Do not assume a school break, a bank closure and your own employment leave follow an identical calendar.

The same practical approach applies to Christmas Eve and other festive closure days. Read the actual employer announcement and determine whether a day is annual leave, additional paid closure or a scheduled working day. A vague reference to an Easter or Christmas shutdown can hide different treatment across the days involved.

If you are arranging childcare or a family visit, check each provider directly. A statutory calendar is useful for spotting possible disruption, but the provider’s published opening arrangements determine whether you need alternative care or a changed appointment. Confirm before making a non-refundable booking.

Why is the February holiday on that date?

The February holiday follows a special rule. Under the regulations, it is normally the first Monday in February; if the first day of February falls on a Friday, that Friday is the public holiday instead. The WRC includes the same explanation in its public holiday guidance.

In 2027, the first Monday is Monday 1 February 2027, so the holiday falls at the beginning of the month. When planning future years, use the actual rule rather than assuming it always falls on the same date or always follows a weekend in exactly the same way.

The other Monday holidays follow their own rules: the first Monday in May, June and August, and the last Monday in October. Easter Monday moves with Easter. St Patrick’s Day, Christmas Day, St Stephen’s Day and New Year’s Day have fixed calendar dates, which is why some fall at weekends.

If you maintain a work or family calendar, enter the actual public holiday and separately record approved leave or employer closure days. Keeping those entries distinct helps you avoid accidentally telling a colleague that an observed closure date is the statutory holiday itself. It also makes a later roster change easier to understand.

Will transport, banks and welfare payments change?

Check each operator or agency rather than assuming a single national closure pattern. Public holiday entitlement does not require every service to shut, and a calendar does not establish when a bank transfer will clear. A booking confirmation or appointment letter may contain the arrangements relevant to you.

For welfare, use the Department of Social Protection’s scheme-specific notices when they are published. An early payment is not established merely because the usual payment day is near a public holiday. Our social welfare payment dates guide explains how to check the relevant notice.

For travel, recheck the operator’s timetable before departure and leave time to make a connection. A public holiday may be relevant to the timetable, but the current journey planner or service announcement should determine your route. Our Leap Card guide can help with the separate ticketing arrangements.

If you have an immigration, medical or other public-service appointment, follow the service’s own confirmation and contact instructions. Do not miss an appointment on the assumption that every public office must be closed. Likewise, do not travel to an office simply because its usual weekday hours appear in an old search result.

How to plan leave without losing track of entitlements

Start with your actual working pattern, then mark the statutory dates from the table. Ask your employer which holiday benefit or closure arrangement will apply where the date falls outside your normal working days. Only after that should you identify the annual leave you want to request.

For households with different employers, compare approved leave rather than comparing only the national calendar. A person who works weekends may have a different practical break from someone who works weekdays. Put childcare closures, transport bookings and appointment changes alongside the work calendars before paying for travel.

Keep written leave approvals and check the resulting payslip when the holiday has passed. If a benefit seems missing, ask a focused question: which public holiday, which work pattern and which benefit was applied? Your roster and pay record will help the employer or WRC answer that question.

As of November 2026, this guide uses the current Irish statutory rules and the published official EURES calendar for 2027. Operational timetables and employer rosters still need their own confirmation. For the preceding year, see bank holidays in 2026; do not carry its weekdays forward into the new year.