Irish eyes smiling for St Patrick's celebration

Irish citizens and Guinness fans around Ireland and the rest of the world were this weekend celebrating St Patrick’s Day.

More than 3,000 tonnes of fireworks are set to explode in an array of colour over the River Liffey today.

And London’s first official celebration of the patron saint of Ireland’s day, organised by London Mayor Ken Livingstone, was kicking off with a St Patrick’s dinner.

Guests at tonight’s event at the Savoy Hotel, central London, include Mr Livingstone, Seamus Brennan, Irish minister of state to the Taoiseach, Sir Bob Geldof, TV presenter Dermot O’Leary and the Dubliners.

Tomorrow, London will host a parade from Westminster Cathedral to Trafalgar Square, in a celebration backed by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith and Liberal Democrat Charles Kennedy.

Last night, in the first of Dublin’s celebrations, 2,000 student singers and 500 drummers put on a dazzling display on the banks of the River Liffey.

And tomorrow - St Patrick’s Day itself - more than half a million people are expected to take to the streets of the capital to watch the annual national parade.

Throughout Dublin, funfairs and street entertainment have been set up while brewing giant Guinness was expecting one of the busiest weekends on the calendar.

During the long Bank Holiday weekend, musicians will entertain people from within eight temporary bandstands set up in the busiest parts of the city.

The 2.5 million euro parade is seen as essential in bringing a welcome boost for the Irish tourism business, battered by last year’s outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and the September 11 terrorist attacks.

St Patrick’s Day celebrations last year had to be postponed until May because of foot-and-mouth.

A spokeswoman for the St Patrick’s Day Festival Committee said: ‘‘We are hoping for a great turnout this year.

‘‘Today, there will be a huge fireworks celebration, set to music, which is being organised by Group F - the very people who set off the spectacular display from the Eiffel tower for the Millennium.

‘‘And on Sunday there will be a huge parade and we would expect more than 500,000 people to be on the streets of Dublin to celebrate.

‘‘There will be a fantastic array of colourful and creative pageants, marching bands, pomp, ceremony and celebration.’’

She added that Irish soccer manager Mick McCarthy would be the Grand Marshall of the national parade which starts at noon from St Patrick’s Cathedral and watched by millions worldwide.

Bank Holiday Monday’s major attraction will be the Big Day Out carnival in central Dublin’s Merrion Square, and there will be a treasure hunt in the city centre.

Celebrations are not only restricted to the capital, with Sunday parades organised in Galway, Navan, Limerick and Sligo.

Across the border in Belfast, four parades from the north, south, east and west of the city will be held around midday ending at the City Hall.

Visitors to Ireland from America were down between 30% and 50% on recent years, the Irish Hotels Federation said.

The number of US bands travelling to the Dublin parade is also down to eight compared with 17 two years ago. However, hoteliers have been buoyed by strong domestic tourist numbers and more visitors from Britain, the federation said.