McHugh's Miscellany: Could Brigid's bank holiday be the start of the four day working week? 

Monday next will see the country’s newest bank holiday, in celebration of St Brigid, the first time that a woman has been so honoured in this way.  The last new holiday came back in 1994, with the introduction of May Day. 

Before that it was the October Bank Holiday weekend introduced in 1977, when a half penny was still to the fore in the fledgling decimal age. 

The new bank holiday weekend is a great move forward as new balances between work-life and real-life are becoming more apparent than ever before. 

This became even more evident over the lockdowns created by the spread of Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021.  

And while many employers feel that their employees should return to the old days of office life, employees have indicated that their productivity is actually greater when working from home. 

Of course, it can never be a one size fits all glove. 

But it is going to be the reality of daily life in Ireland as we head towards the middle of the 21st century.

Like all good things, there will likely be the ‘catch’ - working into later life, where traditional retirement was 65 will be a thing of the past, as with the state pension and bus passes coming the following year. 

It will also require the compulsory opening of a pension scheme with any baptismal money that you might get! 

Communion money will also be taxed and some other scheme for those of other faiths or non faiths. 

Anyway, it has always been a bit of a stretch between New Year’s Day and St Patrick’s Day on March 17. 

The one thing that overhangs the new bank holiday is the total unpredictability of the weather. 

By the way, it will always be the first Monday of February moving forward, unless February 1 falls on a Friday and according to my calculations, you will have to wait until 2030 and 2036 for this to happen. 

The traditional St Brigid's cross was once the symbol of RTÉ

In fact, in the years ahead, it is going to become more evident that people will be working less hours, probably over a four day week. 

And according to a growing body of available evidence, the productivity of those four days is likely to surpass the traditional five day working week productivity. 

A recent report, says that by embracing the four day week, it also vastly improved workers’ health and wellbeing in the number of Irish companies involved in the six month trial. 

Strangely enough, I think that the new weekend will also invariably see a resurgence in the naming of children after the great Saint herself. Maybe not to the Premiership, but certainly promotion from the lower divisions. 

My paternal grandmother was a Bridget from Na Cealla Beaga as is a first cousin in the good old US of A, but there are not that many about with Bridget or Brigid appendages as a first name anyway, in the last 15 to 20 years. 

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Back in 1911, only Mary surpassed Bridget in terms of a favourite name for a daughter. In fact, that year there were 1,990 Bridget’s in total or about 6.7% of girls' names for that census, the last before the Easter Rising, WW1, the War of Independence and our Civil War. 

For the record, this was followed by Margaret, back when we were supposed to serve an Empire that had little semblance with Star Wars. Well certainly, stars anyway!