asked the Taoiseach if he will state if he has received resolutions from public bodies requesting that all Catholic holidays be observed in the same manner as bank holidays in this country; and, if so, if he proposes to introduce legislation to give effect to such resolutions.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Observance of Catholic Holidays.
Copies of resolutions of the type referred to by the Deputy have occasionally been received in my Department. The matter is one which has been brought up for consideration a number of times over a long period of years.
It is not quite clear whether the proposal which the Deputy has in mind is to substitute the Church holidays for the existing public holidays or to add the Church holidays to the existing public holidays. If the former is the proposal, I would remind the Deputy that under the Conditions of Employment Act, 1936, and the Holidays (Employees) Act, 1939, individual employers already have power, on giving notice to their employees, to substitute Church holidays for State public holidays. Since this is a matter which so closely concerns both employers and employees themselves, whose circumstances vary in different cases, it is not proposed to make such substitution compulsory.
As to the addition of Church holidays to the list of public holidays, this would require very careful consideration from the economic point of view. There are, I think, some ten holidays of obligation for Catholics in Ireland, of which two—Christmas Day and St. Patrick's Day—are already public holidays. The proposal would, therefore, increase the number of public holidays from six to fourteen. The cost of this very considerable increase would have to fall on either the employers or the employees. The Government would not feel justified in depriving wage-earners of such a substantial part of their needed income nor, on the other hand, could the Government in present circumstances, without the most anxious consideration, place the burden on the employers or, indeed, contemplate the appreciable reduction in the national output in goods and services which would result. Considerations of this nature were in mind when the Government decided not to introduce legislation to make the 29th June, this year, the day of national thanksgiving, a public holiday.