LIVESt Patrick's Day parades take place across the country
Phumie Casserly, Stella Flynn, Venus Casserly, and Jupiter Casserly before marching with the Domhan Green Society in the St Patrick’s Day Parade in Cork City. Picture: Chani Anderson
The weather did not dampen the spirits of the people of Limerick, as tens of thousands of people lined up the streets of the city centre for the St Patrick’s Day Parade, themed ‘Legends of Limerick’.
Grand Marshal and Irish national women’s marathon champion Ava Crean, 19, set the pace, alongside Limerick mayor John Moran and his dog Henri.
A total of 70 groups paraded along the streets of the city centre, as the parade kicked off at 12pm.
As people gathered down the route from O’Connell Avenue down Arthur’s Quay Park, mayor of Limerick John Moran said: “We’re waiting to see what costumes everyone comes out with, everyone here is a legend today in Limerick.”
Grand Marshall Ava Crean told the : “I’m honoured and excited to walk the streets of Limerick with my club and see the community come out to support me and cheer.
“It’s just great to see Limerick come together,” she said.
Henry Street Garda Station Superintendent Andrey Lacey told the : “Normally we would expect 40,000 or 50,000. So far, so good here today, weather is not great but hopefully it’ll stay a bit better as the afternoon progresses.”
Sixty-five groups in total brought entertainment, laughter, and a sea of green to the streets of Limerick.
From 2pm to 5pm, the festivities will continue with a post-parade block party at Arthur’s Quay Park, where the Irish National Clown Orchestra and Fidget Feet Aerial Dance Company are due together for a large-scale outdoor performance.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has urged US vice president JD Vance to visit Ireland, as the two leaders sat down for breakfast on St Patrick’s Day.
Mr Martin and his wife Mary were greeted by Mr Vance and his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance at the US Naval Observatory.
"Glad to have you guys," Mr Vance told them, before they were ushered inside for the breakfast.
“They say a week is a long time in politics, but one of the greatest Irish writers, James Joyce, laid bare so much about the human soul in just one day,” Mr Martin said.
“Above all, his book, is, of course, a journey. A journey through Dublin, the journey into the meaning that can be found in the everyday, and at some level, a journey home.
“As we continue our own journeys, I'm pleased to present you with a special edition of this masterpiece, and it is our hope that this literary token of Dublin recalls happy memories of your and Usha’s road trip around Ireland and encourages you and your growing family to make a return journey in the not too distant future.”
Attendees at the event with Mr Vance included Ireland’s Ambassador to the US, Geraldine Byrne Nason, and her US counterpart, Edward Walsh.
Also in attendance was Markwayne Mullin, a senator from Oklahoma who has been selected to serve as the new secretary of homeland security, as well as Patrick Collison, the founder of payments firm Stripe.
The Taoiseach singled out Mr Collison, saying he first met him when he was education minister and Mr Collison was a student taking part in the Young Scientists competition.
“He didn't hang around, and he went straight to America to create this great company.”
US vice president JD Vance said Ireland is an important economic and trading partner.
Speaking at a breakfast meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin in Washington DC, Mr Vance said about 375,000 US jobs depend on Ireland in one form or another, adding: “But I actually think that understates the cultural friendship between the United States and Ireland.
“So many of the greatest Americans were people who came from Ireland or their families came from Ireland.
“In the Republican Party, of course, we revere Ronald Reagan, a great Irishman and a great president of the United States".
Mr Vance said most people in America know someone with a “deep connection” to Ireland.
“We love it and we admired it, and we cherished the incredible friendships that we have and the great things that Ireland has done for the United States of America.”
Mr Vance said he is “very grateful” for the friendship of Taoiseach Micheal Martin and “everything that unites the people of Ireland and the United States of America”.
Mr Martin is accompanied by his wife Mary and second lady Usha Vance is also present.
The breakfast was attended by US ambassador to Ireland Ed Walsh and Stripe chief executive Patrick Collison.
Mr Vance said attendees would be presented with a gift bag including a pint glass and “Donegal-style” wool socks.
The vice president was wearing a pair of socks with shamrocks for St Patrick’s Day.
He said this year’s pair was “slightly more muted” than the ones he wore in the Oval Office last year, for which he said US President Donald Trump “bust my chops”.
Mr Martin also gifted Mr Vance a special edition of .
Taoiseach Micheál Martin will meet US president Donald Trump at the White House later today. But first up on the big day, he and wife Mary O'Shea have met with US vice president JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance at the Naval Observatory, his residence in Washington DC.
Princess Kate is attending the Irish Guards' St Patrick's Day Parade in Aldershot.
Cork’s St Patrick’s Day parade launches from Parnell Place, with gardaí estimating as many as 60,000 people are gathered in the city centre.
So far, the rain, which had threatened earlier, has held off, and the blustery gusts of this morning have settled down.
Officially starting at 1pm at the junction of South Mall and Parnell Place, the parade will make its way along South Mall and Grand Parade, then up St Patrick’s Street to finish on Merchants Quay.
With more than 3,600 participants set to take part in the parade, the noise is deafening and the sense of joy is infectious, with a sea of people wearing green and cheering beneath various banners and flags.
This year’s grand marshals are the volunteers and canine stars of Carrigrohane-based national charity Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
The general consensus at the starting line is that Cork has never seen cuter or fluffier grand marshals, and that’s not to mention their furry friends.
Leading the parade on motorcycles are 18 volunteers from Blood Bike South, who are getting around the parade’s prohibition on mechanically propelled vehicles by striking out three minutes before the official start.
From 7pm to 7am weeknights, and 24 hours a day on weekends, Blood Bike volunteers deliver blood, chemo-therapy materials, and breast milk to hospitals all over the country, and they rely entirely on public donations.
Among the international groups marching in Cork today are the McKinney High School Royal Pride Marching Band from Texas, the DC Everest Senior High Marching Band from Wisconsin, and Batala, the international collection of Samba groups from the UK, France, Austria and America.
Local arts organisations Cork Community Art Link and Cork Puppetry Company and national arts organisation Spraoi are bringing large floats to the parade, all of which pay tribute to the festival theme ‘Marsh, Myth and Magic’.
Organisers have provided an accessible area for parade viewers who require these facilities, wheelchair users, people who are elderly or infirm, as well as autistic and neurodiverse people who need more space around them. This space outside Dunnes Stores does not require registration but is restricted to one accompanying support person.
The parade is being streamed live on www.corkstpatricksfestival.ie/parade from 12.45pm.
President Catherine Connolly talked with Dáithí Ó Se on ahead of the Dublin parade this morning.
She said: "I have a whole mixture of emotions. You know, it was a day off school, so that was fantastic. Often it poured rain, and we we're miserable, and sometimes you were burnt, but it was always a wonderful celebration. I was a member of the Order of Malta, so we used to go out in our uniforms, and that was lovely. We felt important."
Asked if she got to break lent on St Patrick's Day, President Connolly said: "We had all the sweets piled up, and of course, some of us slipped into it before St Patrick's Day, but there was always confession."
The Cork City St Patrick's Day Parade kicks off at 1pm at the top of the South Mall near Parnell Bridge. Groups will then make their way toward Grand Parade, St Patrick's Street, and along Merchant's Quay before finishing near the junction with Parnell Place. Our photographer Chani Anderson is in place ahead of the parade getting under way.
Ireland’s tiniest and shortest St Patrick’s Day parade kicked off the bank holiday festivities on Monday, celebrating 25 years of marching from a pre-school in Limerick.
Twenty pupils attending the Busy Bees pre-school, at Park Gardens, Corbally, marched alongside a local lone piper, 500m to a roundabout and back to their classroom.
Neighbours of the school and past pupils also marched behind the parade organised by Busy Bees owner Vivienne Vereker Campbell.
“It’s just incredible to bring the community out every year,” said Ms Vereker Campbell.
“If I wasn't for the community I wouldn't be here, they’ve kept me alive and kept me going through recession, covid, and we kept our piper and our parade going.
“We are marking our 25th year here in Park Gardens so I just wanted to give something back,” said Ms Vereker Campbell, who organised free ice-creams and coffee for all the neighbourhood outside the school.
“I’m just so proud to be still here 25 years on, I didn't think it would last when I started, when I had three children on my first day, and it’s grown and grown every year since."
The lone piper, Paul McMahon, has led the parade for 25 years.
“I’ve had four kids that have come through Busy Bees, it’s a fantastic school,” said Mr McMahon.
What keeps him coming back year after year “is the delight on the kids' faces”.
“It’s their parade, it’s their chance to wave, and to shine and to see their parents smiling back at them,” said Mr McMahon.
The main Limerick City St Patrick’s Day parade on Tuesday will be live-streamed for the first time ever.
Dublin’s St Patrick’s Day parade is expected to draw thousands of spectators to the streets of the capital as it kicks off this morning.
The spectacle will comprise 12 large floats and more than 3,000 participants. It will run from Parnell Square in the north of the city, down Dublin’s main thoroughfare, O’Connell Street, and ending at the Cuffe Street/Kevin Street junction on the south side of the city.
Performers in the parade include Macnas, Bui Bolg, Spraoi, the Inishowen Carnival Group, and The Outing Queer Arts Collective.
The Rotunda Hospital, located near the start of the parade, makes its first appearance with a special float designed by ArtFX.
TV presenter and podcaster Vogue Williams, who is the grand marshal of this year’s parade, said she could not sleep last night with the excitement.
Asked why she was proud to be Irish, she said: “I just think we’re deadly. We just are, and we annoyingly gravitate towards each other as well.
“Even in London, I’ve got my group of Irish friends; you go away, you’re looking for an Irish bar.
“We all just love hanging out with each other, and I just think you meet an Irish person, and you’re bound to have a good night.” She said she is “back in her parade era” and said the parade would show visitors “a really good time”.
When told the Dublin mayor Ray McAdam was keen to meet her, she said: “Oh fantastic, maybe he’ll let me wear his necklace.” “You can be done for treason for wearing the Lord Mayor’s necklace, apparently,” chief executive of the St Patrick’s Festival Richard Tierney told her.
“Really? We’ll see.”
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