In Ireland, the question "is this a working day?" is a trap -- because the honest answer is: for what purpose?
Courts, conveyancing, and employment law each use their own way of treating weekends, public holidays, and the Christmas/Easter shutdown periods.
Here are the mismatches that cause the most diary grief.
Quirk #1: Good Friday is the perfect example of "same date, different rules"
- Employment/public holidays: Good Friday is not a statutory public holiday.
- Superior Courts: for short time limits (less than six days), Good Friday is not reckoned.
- Superior Court offices: court offices are closed on Good Friday (and also on Monday and Tuesday in Easter Week).
- Conveyancing (Law Society conditions): "Working Day" is defined by reference to weekends, public holidays and the seven days immediately after Christmas Day -- and does not explicitly carve out Good Friday.
So if you carry your "Good Friday is basically a holiday" intuition from one context into another, you can end up a day out.
Quirk #2: courts have a short period rule that only activates under 6 days
Under Order 122 (Superior Courts), if the time allowed is less than six days, you exclude Saturday, Sunday, Christmas Day and Good Friday from the count.
But if the time allowed is 6 days or more, those days generally count -- unless your end day lands on a closure day (in which case it rolls to the next day the office is open).
Quirk #3: "offices are closed" is a wider bucket than "public holiday"
Order 118 sets out days when Superior Court offices are closed, including:
- Christmas Day and the seven following days
- St Patrick's Day
- Good Friday
- Monday and Tuesday in Easter Week
- and public holidays in public offices
That list is why court-aware calculators usually have a separate "court closure days" toggle: it is not the same as "public holidays".
Quirk #4: conveyancing timeframes often run in Working Days, but the Christmas blackout is baked in
If a conveyancing timeframe is expressed in "Working Days" under standard Law Society conditions, the definition can automatically remove the Christmas week by definition (the seven days immediately after Christmas Day).
That is very different to a pure calendar-day count, where Christmas week still counts unless the contract says otherwise.
Practical takeaway
Before you count anything, decide which "calendar" you are in:
- Court deadlines: Order 122 + court office closure days matter.
- Conveyancing deadlines: check the contract's definition of "Working Day".
- Employment entitlements: public holiday rules are entitlement-based, not always "office closed".
Our calculator forces that choice up front because Ireland's rules do not reward guessing.
Need the dates without the mental overhead? Use the calculator to validate your timeline.
Try it -> Open the calculator
If you want the technical rules laid out in detail, see the Technical Reference page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is Good Friday a working day in Ireland?
A: It depends on context. It is not a statutory public holiday, but it is
excluded from short court periods and court offices are closed. Conveyancing
definitions can differ, so always check the governing definition.
Q: Do court closure days equal public holidays?
A: No. Court office closure days include Good Friday and parts of Easter Week
that are not statutory public holidays.
Q: Why do conveyancing Working Days exclude the Christmas week?
A: The standard Law Society definition excludes the seven days immediately
following Christmas Day, which creates a built-in shutdown period.
Sources & Further Reading: