Close to 700 delegates from over 95 countries are attending a three-day Learning Cities conference in Cork organised by UNESCO and previously held in Beijing and Mexico city.

*It’s a typically seasonal forecast for St Patrick’s Day — cold weather with sunny spells and showers — but that won’t stop tens of thousands of people from taking to the streets for celebrations this weekend.

The organisers of Cork’s St Patrick’s Day parade say it will be the biggest in the city’s history and expect a three-day festival, organised around the national holiday, will attract 80,000 visitors.