St Patrick’s Day Bank Holiday: Dates, Parades and Escapes

A fixed date with a moving weekday

St Patrick’s Day is always 17 March, the date traditionally given for the saint’s death in the fifth century. Unlike most Irish bank holidays, it isn’t pinned to a Monday, which means it lands on a different weekday each year. Sometimes that’s brilliant, sometimes it’s a Wednesday and you’re back at your desk the next morning with a sore head.

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When the 17th falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the following Monday is generally taken as the day off. Northern Ireland also has a public holiday on St Patrick’s Day, so it’s one of the few occasions where the whole island is off together.

Midweek? Build a bridge

The moving weekday is what makes St Patrick’s Day so useful for planning. A Tuesday or Thursday holiday needs just one day of annual leave to become a four-day weekend. A Wednesday holiday is the awkward one, but two days of leave on either side gives you five in a row, which is enough for a proper trip abroad.

Our leave tips at the top of this page work out the best combination for the next St Patrick’s Day automatically. Book early if you can: this is one of the most requested days off in Irish workplaces, and flights out of Dublin around the 17th aren’t cheap.

Parades big and small

Dublin’s St Patrick’s Festival has grown into a multi-day event with music, street theatre and family events, and the parade itself draws hundreds of thousands of people into the city centre on the 17th. If you want a decent view, arrive early, pick a spot away from O’Connell Street, and bring something waterproof. Mid-March weather is not to be trusted.

Honestly, though, some of the best parades are the small ones. Every town and many villages have their own, often featuring the local GAA club, the vintage tractor society, a pipe band and whichever business has bought a new van. They’re short, friendly and you can actually see what’s going on, which makes them a lot more fun with small children.

• Dublin: the national parade and a festival programme across several days.
• Cork, Galway and Limerick: big city parades with a more relaxed feel than Dublin.
• Downpatrick and Armagh: places closely linked with Patrick himself, both in Northern Ireland.
• Dingle: famous for starting its parade at dawn, led by the local fife and drum band.

Beyond the pint of plain

For all the green hats, there’s more to the day than the pub. Many churches hold services in Irish, céilís pop up in community halls, and the national broadcaster fills the schedules with music and sport. For generations, the All-Ireland club finals at Croke Park were a St Patrick’s Day ritual for GAA families, and you’ll still find plenty of local matches on.

There’s also the small matter of sport across the water. The Cheltenham Festival often runs during the same week, and the final round of the Six Nations rugby usually falls within a few days. Expect pubs to be packed for both and plan your evening around it if you’d rather avoid the crush.

Escaping the crowds instead

Plenty of Irish people use St Patrick’s Day to get away from the noise. The west coast is wonderfully empty in mid-March: Dingle, Connemara and the Cooley peninsula are all lovely before the season begins. Expect blustery weather and the occasional sunny hour that makes everything look fantastic.

Further afield, Seville and Lisbon are popular choices for some early spring warmth, and short flights to Edinburgh or Copenhagen work well for a city fix. Many Irish communities abroad hold their own St Patrick’s celebrations, so you might find a parade wherever you go.

Practical tips for the day

Public transport runs on a holiday timetable, and in cities there are road closures and diversions on the parade route for much of the day. If you’re driving into a town for a parade, look for park-and-ride or arrive very early. Taxis are hard to come by in the evening, so arrange a lift home in advance.

If you’re planning a short break, hotels in towns with big parades fill up early and minimum-stay rules are common. Midweek St Patrick’s Days are cheaper for overnight stays than ones that fall at the weekend.

Who was Patrick, really?

Strip away the snakes and the shamrock and Patrick’s real story is still remarkable. He was born in Roman Britain, captured by raiders at about sixteen and brought to Ireland as a slave, where he spent six years herding animals (tradition places him on Slemish mountain in County Antrim). He escaped, made it home, and later chose to come back to Ireland as a missionary.

We know this because Patrick left his own account, the Confessio, one of the earliest surviving documents written in Ireland. The shamrock story, that he used the three-leafed plant to explain the Holy Trinity, came much later, but it’s why people still pin a sprig of it to their coats on the 17th. As for the snakes: Ireland never had any after the last Ice Age, so that one’s a legend.

If you’d like to see where it all began, Downpatrick’s Saint Patrick Centre and his traditional grave at Down Cathedral are about an hour and a half from Dublin, and Armagh, where he’s said to have founded his main church, has two cathedrals named after him.

Add it to your calendar

Do you get the day off?

Most workers are owed a benefit for every public holiday, but it isn’t always the day itself. Read your public holiday rights.

Frequently asked questions

Why do people wear shamrock on St Patrick’s Day?

Tradition says St Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity. Wearing a sprig on 17 March has been an Irish custom for centuries.

Is St Patrick’s Day a bank holiday in Northern Ireland too?

Yes. St Patrick’s Day is a public holiday in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

What happens if St Patrick’s Day falls on a Sunday?

The following Monday is generally taken as the day off by banks and most employers.

Are shops open on St Patrick’s Day?

Many shops, supermarkets and pubs open, often with holiday hours. Banks and most public offices are closed.

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