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As 2026 draws nearer, many of us will be considering how to strategically plan our annual leave around Bank Holidays.
Ireland is scheduled to observe the same number of Bank Holidays in 2026 as it did in 2025, though there is one significant alteration. St. Stephen’s Day invariably occurs on December 26, but in 2026 it lands on a Saturday, meaning the official Bank Holiday will be recognised as a ‘substitute day’ on Monday December 28, 2026.
Ireland will mark 10 Bank Holidays in total during 2026. The country previously observed just nine, but this changed in 2023 when Imbolc (St. Brigid’s Day) was formally established as a Bank Holiday.
Imbolc (St. Brigid’s Day) takes place on the first Monday of February each year, unless February 1 happens to fall on a Friday, in which case Friday February 1 becomes the Bank Holiday, reports the Irish Mirror. “In Ireland, the first of February marks the beginning of Spring and the celebration of Lá Fhéile Bríde, St Brigid’s Day,” says the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
“Like many of other feast days of the Irish calendar, Brigid predates Christianity – her roots lie in the Celtic festival of Imbolc, the feast of the goddess Brigid, celebrated at least five millennia ago. In old Irish, Imbolc means ‘in the belly’, a reference to lambing and the renewal Spring promises. Brigid was a triple goddess – of healing, fire, and of poetry – and the saint who took her name, born in 450 AD, carried some of those same associations. The patron saint of poets and midwives, by legend, she maintained a sacred fire by the monastery she founded in Kildare. Alongside St Patrick and St Columcille, she is one of Ireland’s three patron saints.”
The department went on to say: “Brigid’s name can be translated as “the exalted one”. And, over recent years, her festival has come to be an exaltation of Irish women. From Washington to Warsaw, Sydney to Santiago, Ireland’s diplomatic network, in partnership with local communities, host a series of festivals each February celebrating the remarkable contribution Irish women have made – and continue to make – across the world.”
Bank Holidays in Ireland in 2026:
New Year’s Day – Thursday January 1Imbolc (St. Brigid’s Day) – Monday February 2St. Patrick’s Day – Tuesday March 17Easter Monday – Monday April 6Early May Day Bank Holiday – Monday May 4June Bank Holiday – Monday June 1August Bank Holiday – Monday August 3October Bank Holiday – Monday October 26Christmas Day – Friday December 25St. Stephen’s Day – as it falls on a Saturday in 2026 the Bank Holiday will be observed as a ‘substitute day’ on Monday December 28.
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