Sinn Féin calls for cross-border bank holidays

The British and Irish governments were urged today to standardise public holidays in Northern Ireland and the Republic.

As workers in the Republic took advantage of their June Bank Holiday, Sinn Féin MP Michelle Gildernew argued it would make a lot more sense to harmonise Bank Holidays on both sides of the border.

The Fermanagh and South Tyrone MP said: “We have a situation where last Monday we had a Bank Holiday in the Six Counties (Northern Ireland) and today we have one in the 26 Counties (the Republic).

“It would be much more sensible if Bank Holidays were across the island. This makes business sense and common sense.

“The logic of the Good Friday Agreement, which has seen the establishment of all-Ireland institutions across a range of significant areas, dictates very clearly that this sort of situation needs to be addressed and harmonised.”

This year Northern Ireland and the Republic have already shared public holidays on New Year’s Day, St Patrick’s Day, Good Friday and Easter Monday and the May Bank Holiday (May 5).

Workers on both sides of the border are also entitled to holidays this year on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

However if Ms Gildernew’s plan were to come into operation, Northern Ireland would either have to scrap the annual Battle of the Boyne/Orangeman’s Day Bank Holiday which falls on June 14 this year or the Republic would have to adopt it and ditch its October Bank Holiday.

Northern Ireland also has a summer Bank Holiday on August 25, while the Irish Republic’s Bank Holiday on August 4.

The proposal was ridiculed today by the Democratic Unionist Party’s Ian Paisley Jnr.

“If Michelle Gildernew is trying to get additional holidays, I think most people would frown on those efforts,” he said.

“But I have to say, they would also be surprised to see her advocating that the Battle of the Boyne be celebrated in the Republic.”