Meet Ireland's biggest Paddy's Day visitor

Ireland played host to plenty of first-time tourists over the St Patrick's weekend - but this fella was definitely the largest.

(Picture: Youen Jacob via Baltimore Photos on Facebook)

This picture, taken yesterday by Youen Jacob, shows a young male humpback whale happily feeding three miles off Baltimore, west Cork.

Humpbacks are no strangers to the food-rich seas south of the Mizen Peninsula - remember this picture that made headlines worldwide? - but it's been confirmed that this whale is a new visitor, previously unrecorded in our waters.

Tradition holds that any new whale is named by the person that spotted him or her first, but for now he's going under the not-very catchy name of #HBIRL22 - and the lads who first sighted the cetacean are inviting suggestions on the Baltimore Photos Facebook page.

With Paddy's Day now done and dusted, we'll see if he sticks around for a while, or if he was only here for the beer...

(HAT TIP: Thanks to Richard O'Flynn for letting us know about this)

MORE: Watch Youen and pals on RTÉ news report of humpbacks bubble-feeding off Baltimore in November 2012:

(RTENewsNow via YouTube)