Dublin celebrates St Patrick's Day for second time this year

St Patrick's Day returns to Dublin this weekend for the second time in as many months.

The original festival, set for March 17, was cancelled, amid fears the Republic could succumb to a foot-and-mouth outbreak.

But two months and just one confirmed case later, the country is returning to normal. The three-day festival of street carnivals and fireworks is to culminate in Sunday's parade and could draw as many as half a million spectators.

It is hoped the event will mark the beginning of the recovery of the country's tourism industry which suffered along with the agriculture sector. The department of tourism expects that visitor numbers in 2001 will be down 14% from last year. The latest estimates put losses through cancellations at £250m.

Maria Moynihan, chief executive of the St Patrick's Festival, said: "What better way to spread the message that Ireland is open for business than with living proof in the form of images of people in colourful glorious costumes dancing in the street?"

The festival kicks off today with a night-time torch lit procession of thousands of transition-year students, converging on the River Liffey.

On Saturday afternoon, there will be open-air performances of music and drama followed, in the evening, by a Brazilian-style samba carnival.

This in turn is followed by one of the highlights of the weekend - a fireworks display designed by the pyrotechnics team which spectacularly closed the last year's Sydney Olympics.

Sunday's parade of more than 2,000 performers will crawl from St Patrick's Cathedral to O'Connell Street.