Let’s have a day we can be proud of

AS the great Irish diaspora marks St Patrick’s Day festivities around the globe today, hopefully there will be no repeat of the drunken orgy witnessed in Ireland last year.

To say the festive atmosphere was marred would be an exaggeration. Following disgraceful scenes in which young people urinated and vomited on the streets, some 750 were arrested for being drunk and disorderly.

Sightseers and tourists, particularly young children, were terrorised as hordes of drunken louts went on the rampage. In a bid to curb that level of drinking , gardaí have asked off-licenses to close today. Greedy publicans and retailers, who sell booze to under-age drinkers, should be named and shamed.