What is August Bank Holiday?
The August Bank Holiday is an Irish public holiday on the first Monday of August. It is the main summer break of the Irish calendar, a secular holiday with no particular theme that falls in the middle of the school summer holidays. Many people use the long weekend for a trip to the seaside, for festivals and agricultural shows, or for visiting family, and it is one of the busiest weekends of the year for domestic travel.
The same Monday is the Summer Bank Holiday in Scotland, but not in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, which keep the last Monday of August. In Ireland the weekend often features horse racing meetings and music festivals, and the Puck Fair, a traditional festival in Killorglin, County Kerry, takes place around 10 to 12 August. The Irish holiday is traditionally associated with Lughnasa, the old Gaelic harvest festival.
Why it is observed
The first Monday in August was one of the original bank holidays created for the United Kingdom, Ireland included, by the Bank Holidays Act 1871, introduced by the banker and politician John Lubbock, alongside Easter Monday, Whit Monday and St Stephen's Day. The Act let banks close on named days and allowed payments due on those days to be made on the next working day. In England and Wales the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 later moved the summer holiday to the last Monday of August, while Ireland and Scotland kept the first Monday, which is why the Irish and the English summer holidays now fall on different weekends.
How the date is set
The August Bank Holiday in Ireland is the first Monday in August, so it falls between 1 and 7 August.
How it is observed
The August Bank Holiday is a public holiday in Ireland. Banks, public offices and schools are closed, and public transport runs on a holiday timetable, while many shops, restaurants and attractions stay open. Traffic and accommodation are busy near the coast. In Northern Ireland the date is a normal working day. Entitlements to pay or time off depend on Irish public holiday law, the employer and the contract.
Sources
Ireland