Are public holidays outdated or do we get too few? Do you lose out if they fall on days you are not rostered to work, and how much is this new one costing businesses? We answer some common questions about these extra days off work.
Whether you call it a bank holiday, public holiday or long weekend, if you are an employee you are likely to have returned to work in the new year counting down the weeks to the next one.
The St Brigid’s weekend in the first week in February is our newest one, which means most of us will enjoy a paid day off work today. It was introduced by the previous government as part of a package of new workers’ rights to improve minimum employment terms and conditions to thank workers for getting us through the pandemic.
When are they?
We have ten public holidays each year: New Year’s Day, St Patrick’s Day, Easter Monday, the first Monday in February, May, June and August, the last Monday in October, Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day.
In years where St Brigid’s Day, February 1, falls on a Friday that Friday will be the public holiday instead of the first Monday. This will happen in 2030.
Good Friday is not a public holiday. It is a bank holiday – banks close on the day. Other workplaces choose to take Good Friday off, but it is not an official holiday covered by legislation. It is in the UK and Northern Ireland. For the rest of us, it is a normal working day.
Do some employees miss out?
To ensure that all employees get the benefit of a public holiday, if you work on the day one falls your employer must instead give you a different day off within a month, or add an extra day to your annual leave, or pay you a day’s pay in lieu. Your employer gets to decide which option will apply to you.
Part-time employees also qualify, but you must have worked at least 40 hours in total in the five weeks prior to the public holiday. There is no 40-hour service requirement for full-time employees, it is a day-one right. Part-timers who don’t normally work the day the holiday falls on, are entitled to be paid one-fifth of their weekly pay.
How much do they cost business?
Bringing in a new public holiday was not without its critics among employers concerned about the increased labour costs for their business, with one Kerry hotelier going so far as to claim “no one wanted” another one. Some 2.5 million employees beg to differ.
But public holidays do come at a cost. Last year, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment published a hefty 175-page impact assessment of improvements to workers’ rights. It estimated the cost of an extra public holiday for the economy as a whole was 0.09% of Gross Value Added in 2023, which is €355 million.
However, the cost of a public holiday is not evenly spread across the economy. Some sectors, such as tourism, hospitality, recreation and retail, are impacted heavier because of the wage costs for staff working on the day and their high share of part-time employees, who are entitled to compensation. On the other hand, people spend more money on public holidays and these sectors benefit most from this boost in consumer spending.
Does Ireland have too few?
The new St Brigid’s weekend brings the number of public holidays to 10 a year, putting us on an equal footing with Northern Ireland but still lagging behind the EU average of 12 a year. This doesn’t necessarily mean Irish workers are getting short-changed.
In many European countries certain public holidays aren’t automatically replaced if they fall on a Saturday or a Sunday. Unless covered by an agreement between their trade union and employer to time-off in lieu of public holidays falling on a weekend, employees in those countries will have fewer days off work in some years than in others.
In Ireland, when a public holiday falls on a weekend the law entitles employees to a substitute day off, with most businesses opting to remain closed the following Monday. This guarantees all Irish employees the benefit of 10 public holidays every year.
Are they outdated?
Public holidays first became law in 1871, at a time when the working day and week were considerably longer than legally permitted today. The workforce is also much more diverse now, with fewer of us sharing a cultural or religious attachment to these set days.
However, it would be a very brave decision by a government to take away workers’ holiday time. But it has happened, with predicable backlash.
In 2005 France scrapped one of its 11 public holidays. Not only did French employees lose their right to a paid day off but they were to work the extra day without pay - their wages going into a government fund for improving eldercare. Employers and the self-employed were exempt from this 100% income tax ‘day of solidarity’. After three years of anger and resistance from PAYE workers and their unions the public holiday was restored.
In Ireland today, low-paid workers don’t generally get more than the legal minimum annual leave required of their employer – 20 days for a full-time employee, which has remained unchanged for nearly 30 years. Public holidays bump up the minimum time off work to 30 days a year.
So, while public holidays began in the 1800s to give workers a well-deserved break, far from being a relic of our past, they are still fulfilling their original function.
Dr Laura Bambrick is a Social Policy Officer
