St Patrick’s Day: Huge crowds descend on Killarney

Drawn by the sunshine, huge crowds descended on Killarney for its St Patrick’s Day parade where the green of the traffic lights had been turned into shamrocks and the buildings had been turned green overnight.

The Killarney parade took a number of hours to file past the viewing stand and was one of the largest and most diverse in recent years.

Themed past, present, and future, the grand marshal for the parade was born in 1913. Michael O’Connor, who lives in Muckross had been a radio operator with the Merchant Navy during the Second World War. He survived the sinking of his ship by a German U-boat, and his was one of the few ships to escape the Japanese in the Bay of Bengal. The father of five is still active and enjoys gardening and driving.