A country utterly awash in green
Hundreds of thousands celebrate St Patrick’s Day
HUNDREDS of thousands of people braved wet and wild conditions across the country yesterday to celebrate St Patrick’s Day.
The festivities included a midnight procession in the Glenties, Co. Donegal, as well as the world’s shortest St Patrick’s Day parade in the tiny village of Oram, near Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan, lasting just four and a half minutes.
The luck of the Irish seemed to have run out for some parts of the country, however, with a small number of parades cancelled. Parades in Gweedore, Dunfanaghy and Falcarragh in Co. Donegal, as well as Cill Chiaráin in Connemara, were forced to cancel due to the wet and windy weather.
For the sixth successive year, Oram claimed the record for shortest parade with local firms, schools, community groups and sports clubs all participating.
Parade organiser Pierce Fox said: ‘This is an unique event that is certainly exclusive to Oram… and we intend to retain the tradition for years to come.’
The country’s largest parade kicked off from Parnell Square in Dublin at noon, before proceeding down O’Connell Street.
The theme of this year’s event, Ireland You Are, involved performers from the US, France, Germany, Switzerland and the Bahamas.
More than half a million people lined the streets to see Olympic silver medallist Annalise Murphy lead the procession as this year’s grand marshal.
Clinton Reilly and his eight-yearold daughter Gabrielle from Naas, Co. Kildare, watched the parade from a ladder on Kevin Street.
Mr Reilly told the Mail: We do it every year, we come in from Naas, we look forward to it. The weather didn’t put us off a bit. We’re all used to it, we’re from Ireland!’
Mr Reilly added his favourite part of this year’s parade was the American marching bands.
He said: ‘I love to see the American bands, there’s something jazzy about them. They’re great fun. There’s just a great atmosphere. You just have to make the best of it despite the bad weather.’
Cristian Mercado, his wife Mariana and their seven-year-old son Julian were also among the crowds who braved the elements in Dublin to watch the parade.
The family, who are originally from Buenos Aires in Argentina, have been living in Grand Canal Dock for the last year.
Mr Mercado said: ‘This is our first St Patrick’s Day parade in Ireland together as a family. I was here last year and I realised it’s an incredible celebration, not only for the locals but also for other Europeans living here as well as tourists. There’s just a great atmosphere.’
Amsterdam students Michelle Arends and Nienke Eijsvogel, both aged 23, watched their first ever St Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin on Dame Street.
Ms Eijsvogel, who is studying in UCD for the year said: ‘Michelle came over to visit me for the weekend. I love Dublin. It’s going to be crazy today, I hope.
‘It’s been great so far, not too crowded. We’re planning on going to Temple Bar later. We made sure we came prepared with our green ponchos too.’
Celebrity chef Rachel Allen led Cork city’s parade alongside lord mayor of Cork Des Cahill.
The parade got underway at 1pm, attracting around 50,000 with this year’s theme ‘Cork – A City of Community, Culture and Commerce’.
The parade was led by a range of Ford models highlighting the decades of production at the Ford
motor plant in Cork.
Meanwhile, the Youghal parade was led by Sinéad Kane, the solicitor who recently became the first blind person to complete a global marathon, participating in seven marathons in seven continents over seven days.
Ms Kane said: ‘I feel so honoured to be grand marshal and to be asked. The thing I like so much about Youghal is that it is a community and everybody supports everybody.’
In Limerick, 50,000 revellers turned out for the city’s parade with a special reception given to members of the Search and Rescue teams, following the recent tragedy off the coast of Mayo with the loss of Rescue 116. Limerick Marine Search and Rescue volunteers wore black armbands as they marched in the parade, which was met by huge applause from the crowds.
Fourteen-year-old Limerick Person of the Year Luke Culhane, who has led a campaign against cyberbullying, led the parade, which this year had as its theme ‘Our Stories – This is where we belong’.
In Galway’s Eyre Square, the iconic fountain turned green for festivities yesterday.
The city’s parade got under way at 11.30am with this year’s focus on the environment in recognition of its ‘European Green Leaf 2017’.
Belmullet in Co. Mayo cancelled its St Patrick’s Day parade as a mark of respect to the members of the Irish Coast Guard and their families touched by the tragedy.
Blackrock, Co. Louth, the hometown of pilot Mark Duffy, also cancelled its parade as a mark of respect.