Lá Fhéile Pádraig!
Hello and welcome to our St Patrick’s Day liveblog. Over the next few hours we’ll keep you up to date with the parade in Dublin and events happening elsewhere.
Are you celebrating St Patrick’s Day in Ireland or abroad? Send your photos to pictures@thejournal.ie.
There’s a large crowd of people on O’Connell Street in Dublin city ahead of the country’s largest St Patrick’s Day parade. You can watch a livestream of the event on our Facebook page in the next few minutes.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is in New York today, where he’ll take part in the St Patrick’s Day parade.
We’ll have updates from our reporter Christina Finn throughout the day.
Cystic fibrosis campaigner Jillian McNulty is going to be the Grand Marshall at the Longford town parade.
Have your parades started yet? Send your photos to pictures@thejournal.ie.
Star Wars actor Mark Hamill is in Ireland for St Patrick’s Day – he’ll be taking part in the Dublin parade – and by all accounts is having a very good time.
Junior Minister Pat Breen is in Coatbridge, near Glasgow in Scotland. Lots of balloons are also present.
Lisa Quinn is celebrating St Patrick’s Day at the Adelaide Oval stadium in Australia. Thanks for the photos, Lisa!
Send your photos to pictures@thejournal.ie.
People are enjoying themselves in Dublin city, where the parade is now under way.
Actor Mark Hamill is a special guest at the Dublin parade. Here he is meeting President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina.
Thanks to everyone who has been sending in photos. Here are Connor, Meghan and Kevin celebrating St Patrick’s Day in San Jose, California.
Send your photos to pictures@thejournal.ie.
Lots of buildings and structures are going green for the day that’s in it.
The Ball in Naas, Co Kildare, is among them.
A status orange snow-ice warning will be in place for Dublin, Kildare, Louth, Wexford, Wicklow, Meath and Waterford from 3am until midday tomorrow.
A status yellow snow-ice is currently in place for the whole country. It’ll remain in effect until 9am on Monday.
Met Éireann has said it will be “very cold this weekend with wind chill and icy patches” and accumulations of snow in some areas.
Alone Ireland has reminded people to check in on their neighbours:
Humans aren’t the only ones having a good time today.
The aptly-named Paddy the Friesian calf is getting in on the festivities with Seán McSweeney in Blarney, Co Cork.
Need some batons and general good times in your life? You can watch a livestream of the Dublin parade on our Facebook page.
Our reporter Christina Finn is in New York City, where Leo Varadkar will be marching in the world-famous parade.
The Taoiseach is attending mass in St Patrick’s Cathedral beforehand.
From New York to Greystones, the Taoiseach and ministers are attending parades to mark the occasion:
Health Minister Simon Harris decided not to travel to the Netherlands and Belgium as planned due to overcrowding issues and other difficulties facing the health service. Here’s where other ministers are celebrating today.
Live from New York … it’s the St Patrick’s Day parade:
While Dublin’s parade is just after finishing, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is about to take part in the New York City parade…
Just a quick reminder that the Six Nations clash between Ireland and England is a quarter way through and… it’s good news for Ireland.
Temple Bar is always a popular spot on St Patrick’s Day. You can watch our livestream of the area on Facebook.
The 588 Defence Forces personnel serving overseas are having their own St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
These pictures show troops serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), who were paid by a visit by Minister of State with responsibility for Defence Paul Kehoe.
Addressing the troops, he said:
“What you do here, day in and day out, culminates in the realisation of our words of commitment to peacekeeping, and also to progress in the region. Your work and your actions fill every Irish person with pride.”
The Knock Basilica in Co Mayo is among the Irish landmarks going green this weekend.
Check out this great shot by Maria Hunt:
The Cork city parade was a sea of colour. Thanks to Darragh Kane Photography for sending in these shots:
Around 300 landmarks in 50 countries are looking a little bit more Irish today.
Buildings are being lit up in green for St Patrick’s Day, all part of the Global Greening initiative from Tourism Ireland, now in its ninth year.
Here’s a selection of the greenery from across the world.
Some 4,000 participants took part in Limerick city’s parade.
Around 100 community groups and sports clubs brought the circus theme to life, along with some of Ireland’s best street theatre companies:
St Patrick himself made an appearance at the parade in Killarney in Co Kerry:
We’re going to wrap up the liveblog shortly but, before we go, here are some great shots of the Irish rugby team who are now Grand Slam Champions, after beating England 24-15 in Twickenham.
Not a bad way to spend St Patrick’s Day!
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