“As a recovery country with pay restoration dominating national debate it’s time to look at our public holidays.”
Ireland has fewer public holidays than most countries in Europe and MEP Brian Hayes wants our annual allocation of days off to be increased.
Who could argue with that?
With nine public holidays per year, we are ahead of Hungary, Great Britain and the Netherlands – who only have eight – while Mexico enjoy a paltry seven.
Hayes said: “As a recovery country with pay restoration dominating national debate it’s time to look at our public holidays.
“The European average is 11 and we lie second last with 9 public holidays a year. Finland (15), Malta and Spain (14) have a full week more public holidays than Irish workers.
“Structured public holidays, rather than increasing minimum annual leave entitlements, will create more tourism, festival activity and boost the economy.”
He added: “There has been a lot of talk about the sacrifices made during the crash. Increasing the number of public holidays would be a real way to honour that sacrifice.
“While pay is dominating the headlines, in our own lives pay and holidays are the main part of our working conditions.
“This is why I want to see additional public holidays back on the agenda as a country coming out of an economic crash.”
This, according to the Mirror, is the full list of how many public holidays each European country gets…
15 days – Finland
14 – Malta, Spain
13 – Slovakia
12 – Czech Republic, Slovenia, Lithuania, Austria, Cyprus, Greece
11 – Croatia, Sweden, Denmark, France, Italy
10 – Poland, Latvia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal
9 – Romania, Serbia, Germany, Ireland
8 – Hungary, Netherlands, United Kingdom
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