GOOD MORNING.

Here’s all the news you need to know this St Patrick’s Day.

“Off-the-cuff remark”

1. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has apologised for a remark made during this visit to the United States for St Patrick’s Day.

Varadkar recalled his time as an intern in Washington in the last year of Bill Clinton’s Presidency and reportedly said it was a time when some parents would have had “cause for concern” about what would happen to interns in Washington – seemingly a reference to the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

“He made an ill-judged off-the-cuff remark which he regrets,” a spokesperson for the Taoiseach said. “He apologises for any offence caused to anyone concerned.”

Shamrock ceremony

2. Gaffes aside, the Taoiseach will be welcomed to the White House later, where he will meet with US President Joe Biden and present a traditional bowl of shamrock.

It’s also expected that Biden could reveal some details of his upcoming visit to Ireland during the event.

Micheál Martin’s visit to the White House last year was sullied after he caught Covid, forcing the event to be held virtually.

Parades and events

3. Closer to home, there will be a range of cultural events taking place across Ireland today.

You can get a quick snapshot of everything on offer here.

The theme of the country’s biggest parade in Dublin will be ‘Mar a chéile sinn’, or ‘we are one’.

Banking failures

4. US banks are attempting to shore up a regional lender that looked set to be the next bank to fail.

First Republic has received now received a cash injection of billions from major banks, who are attempting to shore it up after three other midsized banks failed last week.

The crisis has also spread to Europe, with the Swiss central bank intervening to support Credit Suisse after it came under pressure.

War in Ukraine

5. A meeting rumoured to be on the cards between the Chinese and Ukrainian presidents has been described as a potential sign of “wider support” for Ukraine.

Speaking in Beijing to our reporter Tadgh McNally, Minister Eamon Ryan said: “I hope that might be a sign of wider support right across the world and through that support maybe bring this war to an end soon.”

Volodymyr Zelenskyy had previously said that he wanted to meet with Xi Jinping, after Beijing issued a call for urgent peace talks as part of a bid to end the war.

Pension reform

6. Angry protests have erupted in Paris and other cities across France after President Emmanuel Macron used special powers to pass legislation raising the voting age.

Thousands gathered in front of the parliament in the historic Place de la Concorde in central Paris, watched over by lines of riot police with shields and batons drawn.

Some protesters were forced from the area using tear gas and water canon after a fire was lit. Looting was reported in Marseille, while clashes between protesters and security forces also erupted in the western cities of Nantes and Rennes as well as Lyon in the southeast.

Nuclear risk

7. Several containers of natural uranium reported missing by the UN’s nuclear watchdog in war-scarred Libya have been found, AFP reports.

International inspectors discovered earlier this week that the material – also known as yellowcake and which emits low levels of radioactivity – was missing.

It was found around five kilometres from the facility where it was meant to be stored.

Damage to monuments

8. The Irish Examiner reports that human remains were disturbed by illegal digging at a national monument site in Cork.

A number of holes were discovered at Kilcrea Friary and Conna Castle, which remains disturbed at the latter, apparently made by illegal metal detecting and digging.

“The people involved in this activity are actually stealing from the interpretation of the site and the appreciation that the general public would have of these sites,” Matthew Seaver from the National Museum of Ireland told the paper. 

Very Irish weather

9. You can expect cloudy, rainy, and drizzly weather for St Patrick’s Day.

Met Éireann expects a brighter afternoon, with some scattered showers, a chance of thunderstorms in Connacht, but some good dry stretches for the east and northwest.