We need more Bank Holidays!

netwhizkid

It is quite simple really we only get 9 Bank Holidays a year. Yesterday being one. I feel we should get at least 14, The Equivalent of two weeks holidays per year. There should be one at least every month. December get two for Christmas. It is very beneficial for the economy to have public holidays. It boosts moral in worker's as well as giving a much needed break.

It is great for the economy because people travel to visit relatives etc. It allows for a much needed halt to the Rush & Bustle of Modern Day Irish life. The Social benefits are enormous, as are the financial benefits. Our Economy made €57million yesterday. Now I know that this isn't the case every Bank/Public Holiday but if marketed properly and more event's held on Bank Holidays, I feel that Public Holidays could earn between €500Million to €750Million for the Economy. With the potential for eventually €1Billion Bank Holidays. We are lagging far behind Northern Ireland and Scotland in terms of Bank Holidays and are tied with England & Wales. I think that there should be at least two extra bank holidays as a tester phase to see how it would work.

I think that the Easter Rising should be made an official Public Holiday and a Day of Patriotic Nationalism. I also feel since we have now so many Immigrants here that there should be a Multicultural Holiday to embrace all races, nationalities & Religions. The Christian Faith has traditionally dominated our Bank Holidays with 5 Bank Holidays marking Christianity. Like I don't care what the Holidays are for even if it was George W. Bush Day. We need more Bank Holidays, The great thing is if we are ever Re-United with our Northern Brethren we will have July 12 to celebrate too! Like I couldn't give a toss about King Billy but I wouldn't mind getting the day off work* because of him.

I really would like to know what are other people opinions on this what they think of my ideas.

These are the Public & Bank Holidays through out the British Isles.

Republic of Ireland Public Holidays 2006

• January 1 and January 2 New Year
• March 17 St Patrick's Day
• April 14 Good Friday - bank holiday only
• April 17 Easter Monday
• May 1 May Bank Holiday
• June 5 Spring Holiday
• August 7 Summer Holiday
• October 30 Halloween
• December 25 Christmas Day
• December 26 St Stephen's Day

Northern Ireland Public Holidays 2006

• New Year's Day 2 Jan
• St Patrick's Day 17 Mar
• Good Friday 14 Apr
• Easter Monday 17 Apr
• Early May Bank Holiday 1 May
• Spring Bank Holiday 29 May
• Battle of the Boyne (Orangemen's Day) 12 July
• Summer Bank Holiday 28 Aug
• Christmas Day 25 Dec
• Boxing Day 26 Dec

England & Wales Public Holidays 2006

• New Year's Day 2 Jan
• Good Friday Bank Holiday 14 Apr
• Easter Monday Bank Holiday 17 Apr
• Early May Bank Holiday 1 May
• Spring Bank Holiday 29 May
• Summer Bank Holiday 28 Aug
• Christmas Day Bank Holiday 25 Dec
• Boxing Day Bank Holiday 26 Dec

Scotland Public Holidays 2006

• Sunday 1 January New Year’s Day
• Monday 2 January Public Holiday
• Tuesday 3 January Public Holiday
• Monday 10 April Spring Holiday: Public Holiday
• Friday 14 April Good Friday
• Monday 17 April Easter Monday
• Monday 1 May May-Day: Public Holiday
• Monday 22 May Victoria Day: Public Holiday
• Saturday 1 July Trades Holiday begins
• Monday 18 September Autumn Holiday: Public Holiday
• Monday 25 December Christmas Day
• Tuesday 26 December Boxing Day

*When I actually start working that is.

johnnyrotten

Republic Of Ireland is not part of the British Isles!

smashey

netwhizkid wrote:

I think that the Easter Rising should be made an official Public Holiday and a Day of Patriotic Nationalism. I also feel since we have now so many Immigrants here that there should be a Multicultural Holiday to embrace all races, nationalities & Religions. The Christian Faith has traditionally dominated our Bank Holidays with 5 Bank Holidays marking Christianity. Like I don't care what the Holidays are for even if it was George W. Bush Day. We need more Bank Holidays, The great thing is if we are ever Re-United with our Northern Brethren we will have July 12 to celebrate too! Like I couldn't give a toss about King Billy but I wouldn't mind getting the day off work* because of him.

Where would it all end?
Chinese New Year?
Muslim New Year?
Diwali?

Dave!

johnnyrotten wrote:

Republic Of Ireland is not part of the British Isles!

Yeh it is...

I agree with more bank holidays!

Gurgle

johnnyrotten wrote:

Republic Of Ireland is not part of the British Isles!

Em, Ireland is the second biggest of the Brittish isles. Great Britain is the bigger one.
The Republic of Ireland consists most of the island of Ireland.

You missed school that day huh?

nlgbbbblth

netwhizkid wrote:

It is quite simple really we only get 9 Bank Holidays a year. Yesterday being one. I feel we should get at least 14, The Equivalent of two weeks holidays per year.

Ten bank holidays would be the equivalent of two weeks holidays. Assuming Monday to Friday working weeks.

BuffyBot

Republic Of Ireland is not part of the British Isles!

We must have floated off and stopped in the Caribbean then, huh?

Femelade

one bank holiday a month is too much.
its nice to have it every so often, but not too many.
they wouldnt be so "special" if they were every month.

nesf

netwhizkid wrote:

It is great for the economy because people travel to visit relatives etc.

Eh, no.

nlgbbbblth wrote:

Ten bank holidays would be the equivalent of two weeks holidays. Assuming Monday to Friday working weeks.

Don't be befuddling his razor sharp logic with your maths and reality based thinking!!

etc.

jesus_thats_gre

He manages to pull of off again.. Blinder..

Terry

britain = england and wales.
caledonia = scotland
hibernia = Ireland.
well, that's what the romans said.

the british isles is a name bestowed upon us by those over the water. i do not acknowledge this term.

Dave!

julep wrote:

britain = england and wales.
caledonia = scotland
hibernia = Ireland.
well, that's what the romans said.

the british isles is a name bestowed upon us by those over the water. i do not acknowledge this term.

lol shut up, it's geography, not politics. Get over it

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

aidan_walsh

julep wrote:

britain = england and wales.
caledonia = scotland
hibernia = Ireland.
well, that's what the romans said.

the british isles is a name bestowed upon us by those over the water. i do not acknowledge this term.

Is St. Patrick's weekend the Nationalist equivilant of the marching season, or something?

nlgbbbblth

aidan_walsh wrote:

Is St. Patrick's weekend the Nationalist equivilant of the marching season, or something?

St Patrick is patron saint of all of Ireland. For both Catholics and Protestants.

He was around almost 1,000 years before Martin Luther.

That's why yesterday was also a bank holiday in Northern Ireland.

edit: Martin Luther = not to be confused with Martin Luther King a.k.a. Milk

aidan_walsh

nlgbbbblth wrote:

St Patrick is patron saint of all of Ireland. For both Catholics and Protestants.

He was around almost 1,000 years before Martin Luther.

That's why yesterday was also a bank holiday in Northern Ireland.

edit: Martin Luther = not to be confused with Martin Luther King a.k.a. Milk

I'm aware of that. I was referring to the amount of trash talk being spouted in AH in the last few days.

constitutionus

correct me if im wrong but paddies day is a public holiday not a bank holiday. the only real difference is while you get off your not paid for it:( though that said you generally get double time if you work it:) .

but i agree entirely with the OP. i cant recall where i heard it but we have the least bank/public holidays of nearly the entire EU.
in fact thats why May 1st became one recently. the EU practically forced it on us

byte

constitutionus wrote:

correct me if im wrong but paddies day is a public holiday not a bank holiday. the only real difference is while you get off your not paid for it:( though that said you generally get double time if you work it:) .

Ssshh, if that's true, I don't want teh boss to know! I got paid for it anyway

Litcagral

constitutionus wrote:

correct me if im wrong but paddies day is a public holiday not a bank holiday. the only real difference is while you get off your not paid for it:( though that said you generally get double time if you work it:) .

but i agree entirely with the OP. i cant recall where i heard it but we have the least bank/public holidays of nearly the entire EU.
in fact thats why May 1st became one recently. the EU practically forced it on us

I'm afraid I will have to correct you constitutionus. If employees did not get paid no one would want the day off. An employee cannot be penalised because of the creation of bank holidays - that would defeat the purpose.

seamus

constitutionus wrote:

correct me if im wrong but paddies day is a public holiday not a bank holiday. the only real difference is while you get off your not paid for it:( though that said you generally get double time if you work it:) .

You're wrong
Public holidays - Entitled to be paid. If you're working, you're entitled to time in lieu or double pay.
Bank Holidays - Not entitled to be paid or to get a day off at all.

People often use the two interchangeably. The October weekend for example, is often called "The October Bank Holiday Weekend", when in actual fact it's a public holiday.
Good Friday is a bank holiday, but it's not a public holiday. You're not entitled to anything special for working on Good Friday.

The last two years gave good examples - Christmas and Stephens' Day both fell on weekends. These days are ordinarily public holidays. But when a public holiday falls on a weekend, it's tough titties, you're not entitled to the following days off. However in the last two years, the banks scheduled bank holidays for the following days, any everyone else just followed suit.

Blisterman

Why do we have holidays that don't actually commemorate anything? Surely they could use their imaginations.

dil999

seamus wrote:

The last two years gave good examples - Christmas and Stephens' Day both fell on weekends. These days are ordinarily public holidays. But when a public holiday falls on a weekend, it's tough titties, you're not entitled to the following days off. However in the last two years, the banks scheduled bank holidays for the following days, any everyone else just followed suit.

Thats true in the US but not in Ireland. If a public holiday falls on a weekend, then the actual official public holiday happens on the next working day or days. If Christmas falls on a Saturday then the official public holidays fall on the 27th and 28th.

I think your employer was trying to pull a fast one on you

Litcagral

seamus wrote:

You're wrong
Public holidays - Entitled to be paid. If you're working, you're entitled to time in lieu or double pay.
Bank Holidays - Not entitled to be paid or to get a day off at all.

People often use the two interchangeably. The October weekend for example, is often called "The October Bank Holiday Weekend", when in actual fact it's a public holiday.
Good Friday is a bank holiday, but it's not a public holiday. You're not entitled to anything special for working on Good Friday.

The last two years gave good examples - Christmas and Stephens' Day both fell on weekends. These days are ordinarily public holidays. But when a public holiday falls on a weekend, it's tough titties, you're not entitled to the following days off. However in the last two years, the banks scheduled bank holidays for the following days, any everyone else just followed suit.

I can't agree with that Seamus - I don't know who you are working for but you are being conned.

New Year's Day, St Patrick's Day, Christmas Day and St Stephen's Day are moveable bank holidays and if they fall on a Saturday or a Sunday the holiday is given on the next Monday (or Tuesday if St Stephen's Day falls on a Sunday).

If an employee is rostered to work on the 25th and 27th of December and the 25th falls on a Saturday he/she will get a premium for working that day (i.e. Christmas Day) but not for working on the Monday (the assigned Bank Holiday for Christmas Day) i.e. he/she wouldn't normally get two premiums for one holiday.
However, if an employee was rostered to work on Sunday 26th December (St Stephen's Day) and Tuesday 28th December (the assigned Bank Holiday he/she would get their normal Sunday premium (if applicable) and get a premium for working Tuesday also.

Sam Vimes

julep wrote:

britain = england and wales.
caledonia = scotland
hibernia = Ireland.
well, that's what the romans said.

the british isles is a name bestowed upon us by those over the water. i do not acknowledge this term.

the british isles is a geographical thing, not a political one. just like the sea in between us and britain is called the irish sea. you dont see the english getting in a huff because our sea is touching them

riptide

Commander Vimes wrote:

the british isles is a geographical thing, not a political one. just like the sea in between us and britain is called the irish sea. you dont see the english getting in a huff because our sea is touching them

Here's one!! the Celtic Sea, or St. Georges Channel!

Seamus - sort your employer out. (Its not those cons from boards.ie is it )

Bank Holidays in England recently have been highlighted by a number of branches of banks open on the day. If this caught on, then technically it wouldn't be a bank holiday, unless the gov. stepped in and declared it a public holiday.

seamus

For the record, my employer followed suit with everyone else last year

Litcagral is halway correct.

If a public holiday falls on a weekend, you are of course entitled to some form of compensation if you are working that day. You *are not* however, entitled to compensation if you are rostered in on the next working day.

In Lit's example above, the 25th (Saturday) was the public holiday, and the 27th (Monday) was a Bank Holiday - it wasn't an official public holiday. Exactly the same for St. Stephen's Day - it fell on the Sunday, but the following Tuesday was not an official public holiday.

http://www.oasis.gov.ie/employment/holidays_and_leave/annual_leave_public_holidays.html

constitutionus

jaysus, now im compleatly lost dosnt matter because i pulled a sickie anyway and im not greedy enough to claim a bank holiday ontop of that (what with us having a very good sick pay scheme and there being no legal force to compell em)

just out of interest anyone know how we rank on the holiday front? (public/bank holiday only, i know we take the least holidays in the EU in a personall capacity)

dil999

seamus wrote:

For the record, my employer followed suit with everyone else last year

Litcagral is halway correct.

If a public holiday falls on a weekend, you are of course entitled to some form of compensation if you are working that day. You *are not* however, entitled to compensation if you are rostered in on the next working day.

In Lit's example above, the 25th (Saturday) was the public holiday, and the 27th (Monday) was a Bank Holiday - it wasn't an official public holiday. Exactly the same for St. Stephen's Day - it fell on the Sunday, but the following Tuesday was not an official public holiday.

http://www.oasis.gov.ie/employment/holidays_and_leave/annual_leave_public_holidays.html

You learn something new everyday.
But you are entitled to "A paid day off within a month of the public holiday" not necessarily the next day. (or an extra days annual leave/pay). Whether or not you are 'rostered' to work on that day.


But the OP is right we need more. One in the middle of September would be nice. It'll do the country's productivity the world of good