St. Brigid’s Day – New Public Holiday 2023

The feast day of Ireland’s female patron saint will be celebrated with a public holiday starting in 2023.  February 1 will be a new Public Holiday honouring St. Brigid.  

The public holiday will be the first Monday in February, except where St Brigid’s day (1 February) happens to fall on a Friday, in which case that Friday 1 February will be a public holiday. 

There are 10 public holidays throughout the year. 

  All full-time employees are entitled to the 10 public holidays.  

Part-time employees who have worked 40 hours or more within the previous 5 weeks, ending on the working day before the public holiday, are entitled to a paid public holiday.  

Those who are not required to work on a public holiday will receive a paid day off. Alternatively, if you are required to work on a public holiday, you will receive: 

  • An additional day of annual leave 
  • An additional day’s pay 
  • A paid day off within a month of the public holiday 

All part-time employees who normally work on the day on which the Public Holiday falls are entitled to the public holiday and to their normal days’ pay i.e., an employee who normally works 4 hours will be paid 4 hours.  

All part-time employees who do not normally work on the day on which the Public Holiday falls are entitled to one-fifth of their normal weeks’ pay i.e., an employee who normally works 20 hours per week will be paid for 4 hours for the public holiday. 

If the public holiday falls on a day which is not a normal working day for that business (for example, on Saturday or Sunday), you are still entitled to benefit for that public holiday. However, you do not have any automatic legal entitlement to have the next working day off work. 

Next Steps

If you are an employer and have any questions, please contact your CollierBroderick HR Advisor, call us on 01 8666426contact us, or email us on enquiries@collierbroderick.ie.