Spirits high across the country for St Patrick’s culmination

THE weekend celebrations of St Patrick’s Day will reach a climax with parades and events in Dublin and other cities and towns this afternoon.

On a weekend when Democratic Unionist Party leader and Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley supported calls for it to be made a national holiday north of the border, spirits were high across the country.

Ahead of the capital’s St Patrick’s Day parade, which marches out at midday, the city’s Merrion Square was turned into a massive fairground where families and young people enjoyed the festivities in dry but cloudy weather yesterday afternoon.