Northern Ireland Bank Holidays 2024
Last reviewed: October 14, 2026 · Holiday data: June 23, 2026
The gov.uk list gives Northern Ireland 10 bank holidays in 2024: 10 fall on a weekday and none on a weekend. That leaves 252 working days in 2024. Like the United Kingdom calculator, this page counts Monday to Friday as working days; what changes is the holiday list.
How Northern Ireland differs from England & Wales
Northern Ireland has every England and Wales bank holiday on the same dates and two more: St Patrick's Day on 17 March and the Battle of the Boyne, also called Orangemen's Day, on 12 July. When one of them falls on a weekend, gov.uk lists a substitute day on the following Monday: Monday 18 March 2024 for St Patrick's Day, and Monday 14 July 2025 and Monday 13 July 2026 for the Battle of the Boyne.
Added in Northern Ireland (2024)
- St Patrick's Day (observed) (Monday, March 18)
- Battle of the Boyne (Friday, July 12)
Not observed in Northern Ireland (2024)
Northern Ireland observes every England and Wales bank holiday and drops none.
Northern Ireland bank holiday calendar 2024
| Date | Day | Bank holiday |
|---|---|---|
| January 1 | Monday | New Year's Day |
| March 18 | Monday | St Patrick's Day (observed) |
| March 29 | Friday | Good Friday |
| April 1 | Monday | Easter Monday |
| May 6 | Monday | Early May Bank Holiday |
| May 27 | Monday | Spring Bank Holiday |
| July 12 | Friday | Battle of the Boyne |
| August 26 | Monday | Summer Bank Holiday |
| December 25 | Wednesday | Christmas Day |
| December 26 | Thursday | Boxing Day |
2024 summary
Total days
366
Weekend days
104
Bank holidays on weekdays
10
Working days
252
After subtracting 104 weekend days and 10 weekday-falling bank holidays, Northern Ireland has 252 working days in 2024. The count rests on the gov.uk list for Northern Ireland, not on the England and Wales list.
Northern Ireland in 2024: how the calendar falls
Every figure below is computed from the 2024 dates in the table above and the Monday to Friday week, and each rule names the provision or the official list it is taken from. When a date changes, the sentences change with it.
Northern Ireland's bank holidays under the 1971 Act, in 2024
Paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 to the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 is Northern Ireland's list: 17 March (moved to 18 March from a Sunday), Easter Monday, the last Mondays in May and August, 26 December unless it is a Sunday, and 27 December when 25 or 26 December is a Sunday. It is the England and Wales paragraph with 17 March added. New Year's Day, Good Friday, the first Monday in May, 12 July and Christmas Day are not in that paragraph; gov.uk lists all of them for Northern Ireland, and section 1(5) lets the Secretary of State exercise the Act's proclamation powers there.
17 March falls on a Sunday in 2024, and the Schedule's own Sunday rule moves St Patrick's Day to Monday, March 18. The Battle of the Boyne holiday is Friday, July 12.
Section 1(4) is the part that bites on deadlines: no one can be compelled to make a payment or do an act on a bank holiday that they could not be compelled to make on Christmas Day or Good Friday, and an obligation falling on one is met on the next day on which it can be compelled. The Act does not name that day.
How Northern Ireland's 2024 total is built
A year's working days are its weekdays minus the holidays that land on them, and both halves move. The weekday supply depends only on the year's length and the weekday it starts on; the holiday half depends on where each fixed date falls that year. 2024 is a leap year: 52 whole weeks plus two days, and both spare days are weekdays (a Monday and a Tuesday), which gives it 262 weekdays, the most a year can hold.
Ten bank holidays in this page's count fall on weekdays, so Northern Ireland has 252 working days in 2024. 2025 falls to 251.
Substitute bank holidays in 2024
When a fixed-date bank holiday lands on a Saturday or Sunday, gov.uk publishes a weekday as the substitute, and the substitute is the bank holiday this page's count skips. In 2024:
- St Patrick's Day falls on Sunday, March 17, and gov.uk lists Monday, March 18 in its place.
The weekend date itself is not in the table: gov.uk lists only the substitute, and that is the date this page counts.
What Northern Ireland's own days cost in 2024
A bank holiday on Northern Ireland's list takes a working day out of the count only when it lands on a weekday that is not also a bank holiday on England and Wales, and a bank holiday on England and Wales that is not on Northern Ireland's list puts one back only when it lands on a weekday. In 2024, Northern Ireland's additions on a weekday are St Patrick's Day (observed) on Monday, March 18 and Battle of the Boyne on Friday, July 12.
The net effect is two fewer working days than England and Wales: 252 against 254.
Where the fixed-date holidays land in 2024
A holiday tied to a calendar date moves one weekday later each year, and two once 29 February has passed, so the week it breaks changes every year while its date stays put. 2024 is a leap year, so every date from March onward jumps two weekdays against 2023:
- New Year's Day is a Monday in 2024, after a Sunday in 2023, so on this page's count it turns the weekend before it into three days off.
- St Patrick's Day is a Sunday in 2024, after a Friday in 2023, a weekend day, so the date itself takes no working day on this page's count; the weekend rules above decide whether a weekday is given for it.
- Battle of the Boyne is a Friday in 2024, after a Wednesday in 2023, so on this page's count the weekend after it becomes three days off.
- Christmas Day is a Wednesday in 2024, after a Monday in 2023, so on this page's count it is one of two days off in a row, Wednesday, December 25 to Thursday, December 26.
- Boxing Day is a Thursday in 2024, after a Tuesday in 2023, so on this page's count it is one of two days off in a row, Wednesday, December 25 to Thursday, December 26.
Long weekends and four-day breaks in Northern Ireland, 2024
A weekday holiday next to a weekend turns two days off into three; two closures side by side, or one on each side of a weekend, make four or more. That is arithmetic on the dates, so the list moves every year even when the holidays do not. On this page's count, Northern Ireland has six such breaks in 2024:
- Saturday, March 16 to Monday, March 18: three days, for St Patrick's Day (observed).
- Friday, March 29 to Monday, April 1: four days, for Good Friday and Easter Monday.
- Saturday, May 4 to Monday, May 6: three days, for Early May Bank Holiday.
- Saturday, May 25 to Monday, May 27: three days, for Spring Bank Holiday.
- Friday, July 12 to Sunday, July 14: three days, for Battle of the Boyne.
- Saturday, August 24 to Monday, August 26: three days, for Summer Bank Holiday.
Bridge days and midweek breaks in 2024
A holiday on a Tuesday or a Thursday strands a single working day between it and the weekend; a Wednesday one splits the week into two short runs instead. 2024 has both kinds. The stranded day is Friday, December 27, next to Boxing Day.
The midweek closure is Christmas Day on Wednesday, December 25. A deadline counted across a Wednesday holiday loses its day in the middle of the week, not at either end, so a count that steps through the week one day at a time has to skip it there.
Northern Ireland month by month, 2024
A month's working days are its weekdays less the holidays on them, so a month with no weekday holiday is set entirely by how its weekdays fall, and every holiday that lands midweek takes one day off the month it sits in.
| Month | Working days, this count | Working days, England and Wales | Weekday holidays |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22 | 22 | New Year's Day (January 1) |
| February | 21 | 21 | none |
| March | 19 | 20 | St Patrick's Day (observed) (March 18) and Good Friday (March 29) |
| April | 21 | 21 | Easter Monday (April 1) |
| May | 21 | 21 | Early May Bank Holiday (May 6) and Spring Bank Holiday (May 27) |
| June | 20 | 20 | none |
| July | 22 | 23 | Battle of the Boyne (July 12) |
| August | 21 | 21 | Summer Bank Holiday (August 26) |
| September | 21 | 21 | none |
| October | 23 | 23 | none |
| November | 21 | 21 | none |
| December | 20 | 20 | Christmas Day (December 25) and Boxing Day (December 26) |
The third column counts the same months on England and Wales, so the gap between the two columns is exactly what Northern Ireland's own calendar changes.
Where Northern Ireland counts longest without a break in 2024
The longest run of working days with no weekday holiday inside it depends on how far apart consecutive closures sit, so it moves whenever one fixed-date holiday changes weekday. In 2024 it runs from Tuesday, August 27 to Tuesday, December 24 in the second half of the year: 86 working days, 17 full working weeks and one day.
The first working day of 2024 on this count is Tuesday, January 2, after New Year's Day. The last is Tuesday, December 31, which is the latest date a count of working days can end on inside 2024.
Which calendar the 2024 count uses
The count uses the bank holidays gov.uk publishes for Northern Ireland. Section 1 of the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 makes the days in Schedule 1 bank holidays and lets further days be appointed by proclamation. gov.uk publishes a separate list for England and Wales, and in 2024 the two lists differ on two weekdays.
Statutes and schedules cited in this section
Each rule above comes from one of these sources or from the holiday data source below.
- legislation.gov.uk: Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, section 1 (opens in a new tab)
- legislation.gov.uk: Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, Schedule 1 (opens in a new tab)
Related links
Sources and verification
Official source: gov.uk (opens in a new tab)
Cross-checked against this source on June 23, 2026.