Public holidays in Ireland, 2026
Ireland observes 11 nationwide public holidays in 2026. After weekends and those holidays are removed, the working year comes to 251 days.
Every public holiday in 2026
| Date | Day | Holiday | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu, 1 Jan | Thursday | New Year's Day Lá Caille |
Nationwide |
| Mon, 2 Feb | Monday | Saint Brigid's Day Lá Fhéile Bríde |
Nationwide |
| Tue, 17 Mar | Tuesday | Saint Patrick's Day Lá Fhéile Pádraig |
Nationwide |
| Fri, 3 Apr | Friday | Good Friday Aoine an Chéasta |
Nationwide |
| Mon, 6 Apr | Monday | Easter Monday Luan Cásca |
Nationwide |
| Mon, 4 May | Monday | May Day Lá Bealtaine |
Nationwide |
| Mon, 1 Jun | Monday | June Holiday Lá Saoire i mí an Mheithimh |
Nationwide |
| Mon, 3 Aug | Monday | August Holiday Lá Saoire i mí Lúnasa |
Nationwide |
| Mon, 26 Oct | Monday | October Holiday Lá Saoire i mí Dheireadh Fómhair |
Nationwide |
| Fri, 25 Dec | Friday | Christmas Day Lá Nollag |
Nationwide |
| Sat, 26 Dec | Saturday Weekend | St. Stephen's Day Lá Fhéile Stiofáin |
Nationwide |
Working days month by month
| Month | Calendar days | Weekend | Holidays | Working days | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31 | 9 | 1 | 21 | 168 |
| February | 28 | 8 | 1 | 19 | 152 |
| March | 31 | 9 | 1 | 21 | 168 |
| April | 30 | 8 | 2 | 20 | 160 |
| May | 31 | 10 | 1 | 20 | 160 |
| June | 30 | 8 | 1 | 21 | 168 |
| July | 31 | 8 | 0 | 23 | 184 |
| August | 31 | 10 | 1 | 20 | 160 |
| September | 30 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| October | 31 | 9 | 1 | 21 | 168 |
| November | 30 | 9 | 0 | 21 | 168 |
| December | 31 | 8 | 1 | 22 | 176 |
| Year | 365 | 104 | 10 | 251 | 2,008 |
Reading these figures
The working day count treats Saturday and Sunday as the weekend, which is the standard working week in Ireland. Only nationwide holidays are deducted; a date observed in one region alone still counts as a working day here, because a national figure that moved with regional calendars would describe nobody accurately.
1 of this year's public holidays fall on a weekend and therefore adds no time away from work: St. Stephen's Day (26 Dec). Whether these are compensated with a substitute day depends on national rules rather than on the calendar, so confirm before planning around them.
The longest working month is July at 23 days; the shortest is February at 19. That spread of 4 days matters for anything billed or accrued monthly, which is why payroll and capacity plans that assume an even year drift by the end of it. The thinnest quarter is Q1, carrying 61 working days across January, February, March.
Compared with 2025, which held 250 working days, 2026 is 1 working day longer. Where a target is carried over from one year to the next unchanged, that difference is absorbed silently unless someone accounts for it.
Against the 204 countries covered here for 2026, Ireland's 11 nationwide holidays put it below the median of 12, around the 38th percentile. The range across all countries this year runs from 3 to 49.
The holidays produce 7 breaks of three consecutive non-working days or more. The longest runs 4 days, from 3 April 2026 to 6 April 2026, built around Good Friday and Easter Monday. A further 2 working days are stranded between a holiday and a weekend, where one day of leave buys a break of four days or more. The full breakdown is here.
7 of this year's holidays sit on a different calendar date than in 2025: Saint Brigid's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day, June Holiday, August Holiday and others. Dates that move cannot be carried forward from last year's planning spreadsheet, which is the most common way a holiday is missed.
Notes on Ireland
Irish public holidays are mostly arranged to fall on a Monday, which keeps the working year
stable and makes long weekends the norm rather than the exception.
The newest addition is St Brigid's Day, in place since 2023. It falls on the first Monday in
February, except in years when 1 February is itself a Friday, in which case that Friday is the
holiday. It is the first new Irish public holiday in decades, and older reference material does
not include it.