St Patrick’s Day celebrations return to Ireland after 2 years’ pause

St Patrick’s Day celebrations are set to return in full across the island of Ireland, with massive crowds expected on the streets of Dublin after COVID-19 put a pause to it for two years.

The celebrations would be carried out in cities, towns and villages. They would hold St Patrick’s Day celebrations, which returned on Thursday after the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.

No fewer than 400,000 people would be expected to attend the parade in Dublin, returning after it was cancelled for two successive years due to the pandemic.

In March 2020, swathes of St Patrick’s Day plans were cancelled by the onset of the global pandemic with parades axed in Dublin and Belfast.

This year in Dublin, Olympic boxer Kellie Harrington and Paralympic swimmer Ellen Keane would be among those taking part in the parade.

In Belfast, the first parade since 2019 would leave City Hall at 1.00 p.m. (1300 GMT). Organisers said that the theme would be “We are all Patrick; we are all Belfast.’’