Is Good Friday a bank holiday in Ireland?
No, Good Friday is not a public holiday in Ireland. It is not listed in the Second Schedule to the Act, and the Workplace Relations Commission describes it as a normal working day. Schools are closed because it falls during the Easter holidays. The table shows Good Friday and Easter Monday for each year; Easter Monday is a public holiday. Check with your employer about arrangements for Good Friday.
What the official texts say
Workplace Relations Commission:
Good Friday is not a public holiday and is a normal working day.
Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 (No. 20 of 1997), Second Schedule, paragraph 1, sets out the public holiday list:
1. Each of the following days shall, subject to the subsequent provisions of this Schedule, be a public holiday for the purposes of this Act:
(a) Christmas Day,
(b) St. Stephen's Day,
(c) St. Patrick's Day,
(d) Easter Monday, the first Monday in May, the first Monday in June and the first Monday in August,
(e) the last Monday in October,
(f) the 1st day of January,
(g) any other day or days prescribed for the purposes of this paragraph.
The words "Good Friday" do not occur anywhere in the Act.
| Year | Good Friday | Easter Monday | Schools |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | (from the rule) | last day of term , re-open (2025/26) | |
| 2027 | (from the rule) | (from the rule) | last day of term , re-open (2026/27) |
| 2028 | (from the rule) | (from the rule) | last day of term , re-open (2027/28) |
"From the rule": no official list prints a Good Friday date, so every Good Friday here, like each Easter Monday the Workplace Relations Commission list does not yet cover, is worked out from the date of Easter; each Easter Sunday is consistent with the contingency Wednesday printed in the Department's circular for that school year.
Pubs on Good Friday: the licensing law
The Intoxicating Liquor (Amendment) Act 2018, enacted on 31 January 2018, removed references to Good Friday from specified provisions of the Intoxicating Liquor Acts. These rules on selling alcohol no longer treat Good Friday as a special day.
Section 2 of the Intoxicating Liquor (Amendment) Act 2018 reads:
The Intoxicating Liquor Act 1927 is amended— (a) in section 1(1), in the definition of “week day”, by the substitution of “is not Christmas Day or Saint Patrick’s Day” for “is not Good Friday, Christmas Day, or Saint Patrick’s Day”
Section 5 of the Intoxicating Liquor (Amendment) Act 2018 reads:
Section 14(1) of the Intoxicating Liquor Act 1988 is amended by the substitution of “any intoxicating liquor outside the hours” for “any intoxicating liquor at any time on Good Friday or outside the hours”
Common questions
Why is Good Friday not a public holiday?
Good Friday is not included in the Act's list of public holidays. Its dates in the years covered here are Friday 3 April 2026, Friday 26 March 2027 and Friday 14 April 2028.
Is Easter Monday a public holiday?
Easter Monday is a public holiday on Monday 6 April 2026, Monday 29 March 2027 and Monday 17 April 2028 in the years covered. Its legal status comes from its inclusion in the Act.
Are schools open on Good Friday?
Schools are on their Easter break on the published Good Friday dates: Friday 3 April 2026, Friday 26 March 2027 and Friday 14 April 2028. Those school closures arise from the Easter arrangements, independently of public holiday status.
Official documents
- Workplace Relations Commission: Public Holidays (first read on 26 October 2026; checked again on 2 November 2026, unchanged)
- Irish Statute Book: Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, Second Schedule (as enacted) (first read on 26 October 2026; checked again on 2 November 2026, unchanged)
- Department of Education: Circular 0072/2022 Standardisation of the school year ... 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 (DOCX, 10 November 2022) (first read on 26 October 2026; checked again on 2 November 2026, unchanged)
- Department of Education and Youth: Circular 0018/2026 Standardisation of the school year ... 2026/27, 2027/28 and 2028/29 (PDF, February 2026) (first read on 26 October 2026; checked again on 2 November 2026, unchanged)
- Irish Statute Book: Intoxicating Liquor (Amendment) Act 2018 (as enacted, print version) (read on )
Every date on this page was checked against these documents on . If anything here differs from the circular or the Act, the official text applies. How the dates are checked.