The Minister for Social Protection has signalled a referendum on the European Treaty will be held before the summer, saying there are "two windows" in which to hold the vote.

The Saint Patrick's Day parade in Armagh has been disrupted because of a security alert.

Fáilte Ireland says several high profile international TV shows and print media will be among the tens of thousands of overseas visitors soaking up the Saint Patrick's Day atmosphere in Dublin this weekend.

Liam Neeson has been voted Ireland's best actor according to a poll carried out by Sky Movies HD, to mark Saint Patrick's Day.

It has emerged Italy's famous leaning tower of Pisa will turn green for Saint Patrick's Day for the first time ever.

The Taoiseach has defended his Health Minister, and denied a cover-up over the latest cancer scandal - this time at Tallaght Hospital in Dublin.

The Taoiseach Brian Cowen has ordered the costs of ministerial trips around the world for Saint Patrick's Day to be curtailed.

Champion boxer Katie Taylor is on the guest list for the Saint Patrick's Day celebrations at the White House.

Sinn Féin has called for the official celebrations marking the anniversary of 1916 to be given a wider focus.

A 77-year-old man has died in hospital in Cork after he was injured in a car crash on Saint Patrick's Day.

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to line the streets later to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day.

The President will make her first official state visit to the Vatican next month.

An inquest into the death of a newborn baby at a hospital in Drogheda has today returned a verdict of medical misadventure.

Belfast City Council has agreed to fund this year's Saint Patrick's Day celebrations, despite objections to the move by the Democratic Unionist Party.

The outcry over Saint Patrick's Day public disorder and drunkenness has provoked criticism of the media.

The world is waking up to Saint Patrick's Day as millions of Irish descendants are toasting the occasion.

Organisers of the Saint Patrick's Day parade in Dublin are furious with the Department of Transport over their refusal to take down overhead LUAS cables that cross O'Connell Street.

Saint Patrick's Day parades could be moved to the evening, instead of the early afternoon, to avoid the violence that followed this year's events.

The successor to the Archbishop of Dublin is calling for a change in people's attitude towards immigrants.

The Government is considering using Baldonnel aerodrome when SIPTU workers at Dublin airport strike on Thursday.

Business group ISME is blaming inter-union rivalry for next week's planned work stoppage at CIE.

There's no sign of union comradeship over next week's planned 24-hour transport strike.

ISME has said that SIPTU's position in the partnership process is untenable after the union announced details of a one-day transport strike next Thursday March 18.