It would cost the State up to €3.4bn to introduce three new bank holidays, Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney has said.
The Minister also confirmed that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Social Protection are carrying out studies that include “a fuller assessment of the impact” that introducing an additional public holiday in Ireland would have.
The information was released to People Before Profit’s Richard Boyd Barrett following a parliamentary question to the Enterprise Minister.
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The party launched a Bill in January 2023 proposing three new bank holidays. This would have included February 1, the last Monday in September and the last Monday in November in each calendar year.
The Government later announced that a new permanent bank holiday would be held on the first Monday in February.
Deputy Boyd Barrett asked Minister Coveney how much it would cost to introduce three new bank holidays a year.
The Fine Gael TD said that there was a “range of estimates of the cost of introducing an additional public holiday” but that it could cost Ireland anywhere between €680m and €3.4bn.
He explained that a study carried out by the UK Office of National Statistics found that it cost €2.39bn in 2022 to hold an additional bank holiday for Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee.
“In the context of UK Gross National Income of £2,505 billion in 2022 – the additional public holiday was estimated to account for approximately 0.1% of Gross National Income,” he said.
Mr Coveney also explained that another study from 2022 examined the “causal effects” of a public holiday on economic growth.
It looked at the impact of national holidays for over 200 countries between 2000 and 2019.
It estimated that countries lost 0.08% of Gross Domestic Product for each additional public holiday day.
Minister Coveney explained that three new public holidays would have an estimated cost ranging from 0.24% to 1.2% of Gross National Income.
Gross national income for 2023 is forecast at €283.7bn.
This means, he said, “three additional public holidays would have an estimated cost of between €680 million to €3.4 billion”.
Minister Coveney went on to say that bank holidays impact different sectors of the economy differently.
He explained: “For example, certain sectors – such as retail, accommodation and food – may see a boost to economic activity, while in other sectors (such as agriculture) the costs of a public holiday may be lower due to natural processes continuing throughout the holiday. “Evidence also suggests that there is a level of ‘bounce-back’ in terms of the loss in production associated with public holidays, which is recovered either through higher effort on other working days or effective management of scheduling.”
However, he added that there are “well-being benefits” which are “difficult to quantify”.
Minister Coveney added that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Social Protection are currently undertaking an assessment of the impact of a “range of changes to working conditions”.
“This work will include a fuller assessment of the impact of an additional public holiday in Ireland and is due for completion by the end of 2023,” he said.
Deputy Boyd Barrett told the Irish Mirror that there has been no evidence that the new February public holiday had “any negative impact on the economy.
He said: “When you take into account the additional spending that wouldn’t otherwise happen that happens on a bank holiday, you may find the actual cost is considerably less.”
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