Cork priest leads parade in green-hued Montserrat

A priest from Co Cork helped has lead the St Patrick’s Day celebrations on a tiny Caribbean island — the only country in the world apart from Ireland that marks the event with a public holiday.

Fr George Agger, who is from Cobh, is based in Montserrat, which he says is known “as the Emerald Isle” because of its proud Irish heritage.

Many of its population are descended from Irish slaves who were sent to the island in the 17th century and married black slaves who were also working on plantations there.