Minister rejects calls for UK-wide bank holiday for St Patrick's Day
Calls for a UK-wide bank holiday to mark St Patrick's Day have been rejected by the Government on cost grounds.
Business minister Justin Madders acknowledged extending the March 17 bank holiday beyond Northern Ireland would benefit those who celebrate it, but said the overall cost to the economy would be 'considerable'.
MPs heard a one-off bank holiday is estimated to cost the UK economy around £2 billion.
Mr Madders was responding to an adjournment debate on the potential merits of making St Patrick's Day a UK bank holiday led by DUP MP Jim Shannon.
Strangford MP Mr Shannon told the House of Commons: 'I stand as a very proud unionist who is very happy to say that I hoped everyone enjoyed St Patrick's Day, they should have enjoyed it, I always enjoy it.
'Probably when I started off my life I wasn't quite sure about St Patrick's Day because it seemed to have been taken over by one section of the community.
'But then I realised that whenever I looked into the issue of St Patrick I suddenly found out that St Patrick was very clearly everybody's, so for the last 40 years or maybe 50 years of my life I've been promoting St Patrick for the very purposes of why he's here.'
Mr Shannon added: 'I do not believe we have fully grasped the potential merits in making St Patrick's Day a totally global phenomenon, not just for cities across the world to enjoy but for people to come and enjoy in each of our four nations.
'The saint who bonds us all could and should be promoted by us all.'
Labour's Douglas McAllister was among the Scottish MPs to advance the claim that St Patrick was born in Scotland.
In a light-hearted debate, he intervened to say: 'I was giving (Mr Shannon) the opportunity to perhaps correct the record but I must state for the record that St Patrick was born in my constituency of West Dunbartonshire, he was born in Kilpatrick.'
Mr Madders, replying for the Government, said: 'The Government does appreciate the deep cultural and religious significance of St Patrick's Day to many nationalists and unionists across Northern Ireland, some of whom revere St Patrick for his role in the arrival and growth of Christianity on the island.'
He acknowledged that the date is already a bank holiday in Northern Ireland, adding: 'The current pattern of bank holidays is well established, and the Government does not have any plans to extend the St Patrick's Day bank holiday to other parts of the UK.'
The minister went on: 'Of course an additional bank holiday in England and Wales for St Patrick's Day would benefit those who celebrate it, including members of the Irish diaspora in the UK, certain sectors of the economy such as pubs and restaurants might also benefit from increased expenditure on a bank holiday, it is a significant tourism draw to Northern Ireland as well, so I would expect that extending the bank holiday might actually draw more visitors from England and Wales over there.
'However, the overall cost to the economy of an additional bank holiday is considerable.
'The latest analysis estimates the cost to the UK economy for a one-off bank holiday is around £2 billion.'
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