Around 400,000 people are attending St Patrick's Day festivities in Dublin today, with the highlight being the festival parade.
Celebrations are taking place around the country today to mark St Patrick's Day, the first day the event has been celebrated in public since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A parade through Dublin city centre drew large crowds, while a Festival Quarter has been established in Collins Barracks.
The theme of this year’s festival is 'Connections' and the festival says it is inviting Ireland and the world to reconnect through arts, culture and heritage.
The parade grand marshals are sports stars Ellen Keane and Kellie Harrington, while the international guest of honour is actor John C Reilly.
Kellie Harrington, the Tokyo gold medal-winning boxer, described the opportunity to parade through her local streets as "fantastic".
"For myself and Ellen to be grand marshals, two female athletes, it's amazing and it shows the strength in female sport, it's always been there," she said.
"To be chosen to walk through our city as grand marshals is fantastic. It's great to show younger kids coming up that if they work hard they can achieve anything.
"I am not just representing myself, I'm representing the people of Ireland and the people of my community. It's not every day that people from the inner city get to be a grand marshal and I've really got the backing of them all and they are all really delighted.
"I went to the parade in Dublin when I was a kid with my three brothers, and so many friends went as well."
Reilly said it is a great opportunity to "spread joy" during a difficult time in the world.
Dressed in a green tweed suit from Dublin's famed Louis Copeland & Sons store, Mr Reilly said he is excited to take part in the celebrations.
Anna McGowan, interim director at the St Patrick's Festival, said it is emotional to see the return of the parade.
She said: "It's been three calendar years since the last parade and there's so many people whose lives are about putting on a show, and to be able to do that this year, and to welcome people back on to the streets of Dublin for our national days, it is so emotional and so important.
"I'm thrilled to be back. This parade will be bigger and brighter than ever before. We've been able to double the creative content in the parade.
"We're also just thrilled to be able to welcome back our international marching bands to Dublin."
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Daytime events are free while some evening events are ticketed with further details on the St Patrick's Festival website. For those who are not at the physical events, the festival television is running again this year on the website also.
Gardaí asked people attending any St Patrick's Day parade to plan their journey in advance and to arrive early, keeping children under close supervision.
In Dublin, road closures are in place along the route so people are being asked to use public transport wherever possible.
An extensive policing plan is in place and gardaí say their priority is to facilitate a family friendly event.
Additional reporting PA
