The countdown is on for many Irish workers as a four-day weekend for St Patrick's Day approaches.
Ireland will enjoy a double bank holiday this year as a tribute to the work of healthcare staff as well as in remembrance of those who died from Covid-19.
March 18 has been declared a national day off, meaning the country will have a day to recover from the St Patrick's Day celebrations.
The government announced in January that the extra day off would fall next week in recognition of the lives lost during the pandemic.
The bonus bank holiday also means that anyone planning on taking annual leave can bag nine consecutive days off work by booking off just three days with their employer (March 14, 15 and 16).
The bonus day will bring the total number of bank holidays in Ireland to ten for 2022.
Here's the full list:
- Saturday, January 1 (New Year's Day)
- Thursday, March 17 (St Patrick's Day)
- Friday, March 18
- Monday, April 18 (Easter Monday)
- Monday, May 2 (May Bank Holiday)
- Monday, June 6 (June Bank Holiday)
- Monday, August 1 (August Bank Holiday)
- Monday, October 31 (Halloween/October Bank Holiday)
- Sunday, December 25 (Christmas Day)
- Monday, December 26 (St Stephen's Day)
However, March 18 will be a one-off bank holiday just for this year and from 2023 a new bank holiday will fall around St Brigid's Day.
It will be the first Monday in every February, except where St Brigid’s day happens to fall on a Friday, in which case that Friday, February 1 will be a public holiday.
A campaign backed by the Women's Parliamentary Caucus, the Green Party, Joe Duffy and Imelda May saw thousands of people sign an online petition for the new bank holiday to be held on the first day of spring.
