Christmas is one of the busiest times of the year for people scrambling to post gifts to relatives abroad or move enough money around to buy the all important presents.
Yet this time of year also sees banks and post offices seemingly shut for days on end, making it a nightmare to organise any last-minute plans.
Don't get caught out this festive season with our guide to Christmas 2019 opening times for Irish banks and post offices.
Christmas 2019 banks opening hours
The vast majority of banks in Ireland will be closed on December 25, 26 and 27.
Many close early on Christmas Eve - 12.30 seems to be a general cutoff point, although some AIB branches stayed open until 2pm last year.
This year is a bit of a disaster as the weekend falls when banks would normally reopen again, on December 28.
The only bank with clear opening hours for 2019 as of the time of publication was Ulster Bank, so these are listed below. It's safe to assume that other banks will likely have similar times.
Ulster Bank Christmas 2019 opening hours
Monday December 23rd
All branches will be open.
Tuesday December 24th
All branches will close at 12:30pm.
Wednesday 25th - Friday 27th December
All branches will be closed.
Saturday December 28th
All Saturday branches will be closed.
Monday December 30th
All branches will be open.
Tuesday December 31st
All branches will be open.
Wednesday January 1st
All branches will be closed.
Credit unions may also be closed on Christmas Eve and the 30th as well, so you'd be well advised to get any banking business done very early this year.
Christmas payment dates
Bank of Ireland lists a number of cutoff points for last payments before the Christmas period really kicks in.
It says Wednesday 25th, Thursday 26th, Friday 27th December and Wednesday 1st January are non-processing days in the Republic of Ireland.
