Parade of vivid colour banishes the winter blues

DESPITE the wintry conditions, hundreds of thousands of people turned out for yesterday’s St Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin.

The presence of more than 1,000 gardaí ensured the level of underage drinking on the streets was far lower than previous years.

Around 400,000 people gathered along the parade’s three-kilometre route to watch the street performers, floats and marching bands from home and abroad.