School holidays in Ireland 2026: breaks and bank holidays
| Break | Primary schools | Post-primary schools | School year |
|---|---|---|---|
| February mid-term break | to inclusive, 2 days Or, with three discretionary days, the full week from to (5 days). | to inclusive, 5 days | 2025/26 |
| Easter holidays | Last day of termSchools re-open | 2025/26 | |
| October mid-term break | to inclusive, 5 days | 2026/27 | |
| Christmas holidays | Last day of termSchools re-open | 2026/27 | |
Christmas and Easter show the two printed days only; the February week at primary level is a choice each school makes. The summer holidays are not standardised.
School dates here follow the Department of Education and Youth's circulars for the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland schools follow a different calendar from their own Department of Education, which this site does not cover.
At a glance
- Standardised breaks beginning in 2026
- four breaks in chronological order: February mid-term break, Easter holidays, October mid-term break and Christmas holidays
- School years covered
- 2025/26 through spring and summer, then 2026/27 from autumn
- Weekdays off for mid-term, Calculated
- ten weekdays for post-primary schools; seven weekdays for primary schools, or ten weekdays with three discretionary days for the full February week. The full February week may be shortened to make up for unforeseen closures, but all schools must still close on Thursday and Friday; check your school's calendar.
- Public holiday breakdown, Calculated
- ten public holidays, including six on Monday
- Long weekends, Calculated
- seven long weekends, each combining a weekend with one or more public holidays to make at least three days in a row
Figures marked Calculated are worked out from the dates in the circular or the Commission's list, or from dates established by the Act and the regulations. The sources do not give these figures directly.
Add to your calendar (.ics) The file includes only the dates shown in this table, with a note explaining the source or rule for each. No extra dates are added.
School holidays in 2026 span the spring of 2025/26 and the autumn of 2026/27. This page gathers the standardised breaks beginning in the calendar year, alongside its ten public holidays, with primary and post-primary arrangements shown together. The January return from the previous Christmas break is on the 2025/26 school-year page. Easter's printed school dates fall at the end of March and in April, while October's week begins on the bank holiday. St Stephen's Day falls on Saturday. The school-year pages give each break's wording from the circular; the public holiday dates appear in the Workplace Relations Commission's published list.
Bank holidays 2026
The public holidays for 2026 are listed below. The bank holiday page for that year explains the dates and sources in detail. Bank holidays 2026 in full.
| Weekday | Date | Public holiday | In the law |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday | New Year's Day | the 1st day of January | |
| Monday | St Brigid's Day (February bank holiday) | the first Monday in February, or 1 February when it falls on a Friday (S.I. No. 50/2022) | |
| Tuesday | St Patrick's Day | St. Patrick's Day | |
| Monday | Easter Monday | Easter Monday | |
| Monday | May bank holiday | the first Monday in May | |
| Monday | June bank holiday | the first Monday in June | |
| Monday | August bank holiday | the first Monday in August | |
| Monday | October bank holiday | the last Monday in October | |
| Friday | Christmas Day | Christmas Day | |
| Saturday, at the weekend | St Stephen's Day | St. Stephen's Day |
How school breaks and bank holidays fit together in 2026
After New Year's Day, St Brigid's Day is the first bank holiday ahead of the spring school breaks in 2026. February mid-term falls in the third week of the month for post-primary schools. Primary schools close on Thursday and Friday, with the option of using three discretionary days to take the full week. Each school's calendar confirms its chosen arrangement. St Patrick's Day falls during term. For Easter, the circular covering 2025/26 gives a Friday in late March as the last day of term and a Monday in April's second week as the re-opening day. Good Friday and Easter Monday fall between those dates, though only Easter Monday is a public holiday. The May and June bank holidays follow. Post-primary tuition must finish by the Friday before the June bank holiday, ahead of the State examinations. This does not set a summer closing date for every school.
The longest gap between public holidays in 2026 runs from the August bank holiday to the October bank holiday. During that interval, schools prepare for 2026/27. The circular expects the new school year to start during the week containing the first of September, but each school sets its own opening date. October mid-term starts on the bank holiday Monday and continues through Friday, with the same dates for primary and post-primary pupils. The last day of term before Christmas is a Tuesday, and schools re-open early in the following January. These dates are listed separately; the count of days between them excludes both. Christmas Day falls on Friday and St Stephen's Day on Saturday. The public holiday table gives that Saturday date, and the Commission's guidance explains employees' public holiday entitlements.
The two school years
School holidays 2025/26 (Circular 0072/2022) · School holidays 2026/27 (Circular 0018/2026). Where primary and post-primary differ.
Questions parents ask
When are the school holidays in 2026?
February mid-term covers Monday 16 February 2026 to Friday 20 February 2026 for post-primary schools and Thursday 19 February 2026 to Friday 20 February 2026 for primary schools; October runs from Monday 26 October 2026 to Friday 30 October 2026. For Easter, term finishes on Friday 27 March 2026 and schools re-open on Monday 13 April 2026; for Christmas, term finishes on Tuesday 22 December 2026 and schools re-open on Wednesday 6 January 2027. Summer dates are decided by individual schools.
How many bank holidays are there in 2026?
There are ten public holidays, with six falling on a Monday. The holiday falling at the weekend is St Stephen's Day (Saturday 26 December 2026).
Which school year covers 2026?
Spring falls within 2025/26, and autumn belongs to 2026/27. A calendar year crosses the summer boundary between those school years.
Official documents
- 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)
- 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)
- Irish Statute Book: S.I. No. 50/2022 Organisation of Working Time (Covid-19 Commemoration) Regulations 2022 (HTML) (first read on 26 October 2026; checked again on 2 November 2026, unchanged)
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.