It is understood that the organisers of New York's St Patrick's Day parade have not withdrawn an invitation to the PSNI to have a contingent march with gardaí on Monday, despite overnight reports.

More than 150,000 people have lined the streets for Cork's St Patrick's day parade, which has just begun.

WITH a surname straight from the heartland of Ireland, most Americans could have been forgiven for thinking that Senator John Forbes Kerry of Massachusetts is another in a long line of Irish-American politicians who have made it big in Boston.