Government confirms extra public holiday in Ireland
The Irish Government has approved plans for an additional public holiday and national commemorative event on 18 March.
The new public holiday will be marked as a day of remembrance and recognition for those who died and worked throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. It will be held on the day after St Patrick’s Day this year, but will be at the beginning of February from 2023 onwards.
According to Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, the additional holiday this year will “recognise and say thank you” to volunteers, the Irish people and to all those workers who helped in the fight against Covid-19.
“We decided to make this decision now on a public holiday, rather than wait until the pandemic is over, because so many have already given so much,” he said. “It also roughly marks the second anniversary of the beginning of the pandemic in Ireland.”
From 2023 onwards, the new annual public holiday will be at the start of February to mark St Brigid’s Day on 1 February. This will fall on the first Monday of every February, except when St Brigid’s Day falls on a Friday, in which case that day will be a public holiday.
When it comes to bank holidays, Ireland is behind many European countries, so the creation of a 10th public holiday will bring it more into line with the European average, noted the Tánaiste.
“It is one of five new workers’ rights that I am establishing this year,” he said. “The others are the right to statutory sick pay, the right to request remote working, new rights around redundancy for people laid off during the pandemic and better protection of workplace tips.”
