World goes green as expats celebrate St Patrick's Day

The world’s cities turned green for the day as tens of thousands of Irish expats, new and old, gathered to celebrate St Patrick’s Day.

In Sydney — one of the first parades of the year given the time difference — the revellers were even treated to typically Irish weather with the rain cascading down just as the event got under way.

The numbers attending the Australian events have been bolstered in recent years by the thousands of new immigrants who have fled these shores in the hope of finding work.