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It is St Patrick’s Day, with an estimated 500,000 people expected in the capital for the parade, with 100,000 visitors from overseas bolstering the local attendance.
Dublin’s parade is due to kick off at noon under the stewardship of grand marshal Patrick Kielty. The theme this year is “spréach”, the Irish for spark, which could manifest itself as “the glint of craic in the eye that is so familiar to Irish people” or “the light of innovation and discovery so present throughout our history”, examples in the official festival literature suggest.
There will also be updates from parades in the major cities across the country – and the towns expressing their traditional parade-float creativity.
There are also celebrations around the world from Vancouver to Tokyo, as well as the big ticket events in New York and Chicago.
Government Ministers are, of course, around the world promoting trade and the country’s cultural brand. Leo Varadkar will meet US president Joe Biden again the hand over the traditional shamrock amid debate at home over the US role in Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
We will bring you the latest updates on all this and more on what looks, so far, to be a great day for it – in Dublin at least.
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Best reads:
St Patrick’s Day Dublin parade grand marshal Patrick Kielty says he is “the proudest man in Ireland” as he gets ready at the start line for the big event. “Stuff just got real,” he told RTÉ.
More than 7,000 letters from emigrants to North America spanning four centuries have been collected and digitised, giving poignant insight into the homesickness, tribulations, and occasional triumphs, of those who crossed the Atlantic.
Kerby Miller, a US historian, amassed the trove over nearly six decades by combing archives and private collections, and making public appeals for letters, memoirs and other documents in trunks, drawers and attics, yielding more than 150,000 pages spanning the late 1600s to the 20th century.
The University of Galway has placed the collection in a digital repository that is searchable and free to access.
It can be accessed here. https://imirce.universityofgalway.ie/p/ms?pageTitle=Home+-+University+of+Galway+Digital+Collections
Some photographs of festivities in Dublin:
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Our man in London.
Noreen Kehoe and Jim Cooper of St Colmans pipe band, Ballindaggin, Co. Wexford, at the starting point on Piccadilly in London of the parade there. They are part of a 50-strong troupe who have travelled to London for the parade. The London parade, whose leading party includes education minister Norma Foley and Martin Fraser, the Irish ambassador to Britain, kicks off around noon.
Our man on the ground at the Dublin St Patrick’s Day parade is the redoubtable Conor Pope. Here’s his first take.
“St Patrick must have struck a deal with the sun gods ahead of the big day as for the first time in donkey’s years Dublin is being bathed in sunshine which might almost be described as warm while the skies are blue.
“Those who have taken up prime positions at key spots along O’Connell St are clearly delighted by their life choices with no-one having a bad word to say about Ireland.”
Conor Pope reports:
Grand marshal, Patrick Kielty struggled to contain his emotion at a press event ahead of the day’s big event and his voice audibly cracked when asked what it meant for him to be leading the 2024 parade.
He recalled growing up in Downpatrick, a town that was bitterly divided along religious lines, and said that when he was a child the notion that the two communities in his town would come together to celebrate the Island’s patron state would have seemed impossible.
But he heralded the changes in the North and noted that for many years now there had been a St Patrick’s Day parade up in Downpatrick.
As for his own role across the Irish cultural landscape over the last 12 months,, he said the turn his life had taken amounted to a plot twist that stretched credibility further than the one that saw last year’s star turn Patrick Duffy step out of a Dallas shower oblivious to the fact that he had been “dead” for the previous season.
He said that when he the call came asking him if he would be the grand marshal he thought he was being pranked by Ant and Dec, so unlikely did the idea seem but he said that “the journey from me waking past St Patrick’s grave as a school boy and ending up here is a massive, massive deal.”
He said his wife Cat Deeley and his children would be watching the parade from their London home as she has work very early in the morning presenting This Morning while the kids have school first thing tomorrow.
He also pointed out that last weekend when his family gathered to celebrate another aspect of Irishness, the crunch Six Nations match between Ireland and England, his Irish rugby jersey wearing children and himself were left somewhat disappointed by England’s win with the last kick of the game but he said there would be more joy in the house this weekend.
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From the PSNI:
With a number of events taking place in Belfast on St Patrick’s Day, Police are encouraging those visiting the city to celebrate safely while respecting local residents and businesses.
Road users are advised to anticipate some traffic disruption and plan for potential delays in Belfast on Sunday due to a number of events. Those participating in the SPAR Craic 10K event will leave Belfast City Hall at 9am, travelling throughout the city centre before finishing in Ormeau Park.
A Traffic Management System and signage will be in place and motorists should follow directions of Police, any signage and exercise caution along the route. Then from 1pm through to 3pm, traffic disruption can be expected as the St Patrick’s Day carnival parade gets ready to leave from City Hall at 1.30pm.
The parade then travels through the city centre via Chichester Street, turning left into Victoria Street, then left again at High Street and along Castle Place. It will then turn left into Donegall Place, making its way back to Belfast City Hall. Superintendent Gavin Kirkpatrick said: “If you’re going out in Belfast for St Patrick’s Day put your safety first. If you are socialising, drink responsibly, stay with your friends and get home safely. “We have been working alongside partners and event organisers to ensure we all have the right resources and plans in place for the St Patrick’s Day celebrations, to ensure it is a day of enjoyment for everyone. “
Alongside our colleagues from Belfast City Council, Queen’s University Belfast, Ulster University and local schools, we have again been working hard to highlight that the residential areas of south Belfast are NOT a party or nightlife destination.
“We want everyone to have an enjoyable, peaceful and crime-free day. We would like everyone to enjoy the public holiday and would ask that all act responsibly, think of others and have a great St Patrick’s Day.”
Conor Pope reports:
How many people are attending the parade has been a matter of some debate in recent days with one letter writer to The Irish Times suggesting that for the oft-quoted half a million to be reached, the crowd would need to be 50 deep along the entire parade route. When The Irish Times asked the head of the St Patrick’s Festival Richard Tierney where the 500,000 figure comes from he said that they were official numbers provided by various state bodies.
He also said that not all 500,000 people would be lining the route at exactly the same time with people coming and going as the parade snakes – if that is not the wrong word on St Patrick’s Day – its way through the city centre.
Hi, I’m Ronan McGreevy. Top o’ the mornin’ to you all. I’ll be liveblogging today. If you have photographs, tweets or suggestions, I’m at ronan.mcgreevy@irishtimes.com
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In the UK the annual St Patrick’s Day ritual is the presentation of shamrock to the Irish Guards regiment of the British army by the Prince and Princess of Wales.
This ritual goes back to the Boer War period. This year the absence of the Princess of Wales from public engagements adds an element of intrigue to the tradition.
Will she make her first public appearance for months since her absence for abdominal surgery? It is highly unlikely, but the Prince of Wales will be there today. Watch this space as they say.
Government Ministers have already been travelling the world, meeting counterparts and making announcements throughout the week, with the Dáil in recess. Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue in Ethiopia on Saturday announced €30 million in funding for the United Nations World Food Programme in the Horn of Africa, where drought, conflict and climate change have left many in a dire situation.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin met Canadian leader Justin Trudeau in Canada; Michael McGrath met his counterpart, the Chinese minister for finance; and Varadkar, of course, met Biden in the Oval Office, where the need for a ceasefire in Gaza was discussed.
Here is the full list:
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