650,000 people line the parade route in Dublin

HUNDREDS OF thousands of spectators turned out in blustery but mainly dry weather for St Patrick’s Day parades in cities, towns and villages across the country yesterday.

More than 100 parades took place on what Met Éireann said was the warmest day of the year so far, with temperatures reaching 15 degrees in places.

The weather was particularly good for the country’s largest parade in Dublin city where organisers claimed about 650,000 people lined the 2.5km route from Parnell Square to Patrick’s Cathedral.

Some 3,000 participants, including eight pageant groups and international marching bands, theatre groups and dancers took part in the Dublin parade with displays based on the theme “extraordinary world”, interpretations of which produced characters as diverse as sea turtles, giant ants and dancing eggs.

The parade, led by Grand Marshal former Irish soccer international Packie Bonner, and closely followed by Army, Garda and Dublin Fire Brigade bands and the Garda Dog Unit, began at Parnell Square north at noon.

The floats and dancers then made their way down O’Connell Street and past the main viewing stand where President Mary McAleese and her husband Martin were seated along with Lord Mayor of Dublin Emer Costello and her husband Joe.

The parade continued over O’Connell Bridge to Westmoreland Street, en route to Dame Street, Christ Church and Patrick’s Street.

However, one of the traditional prime viewing spots of Trinity College and College Green was for the first time blocked off by black net screens.

Organisers said the step was taken for “health and safety reasons” because of fears that the bend in the road was too tight to safely accommodate spectators. The parade ended at St Patrick’s Cathedral at about 2.30pm.

Participants came from as far away as India, Belarus and Tanzania, but the award for this year’s best pageant went to Donegal street theatre company, LUXe, for their presentation “Babel Tower Travellers”. The Rupert Murray Spirit of the Parade award was given to Sarruga from Spain whose pageant included giant insects, 10 times the size of humans.

Best overall band went to North Carolina State University Marching Band, best adult band was Lume de Biqueira from Spain, the Clondalkin Youth Band from Dublin received the award for best youth band and the award for the most spirited band went to Musicverin Lyra, from Austria.

The parade was televised by RTÉ with up to 320 million viewers expected to view event highlights through CBS and NBC in the US, NDTV in India, Japanese TV and the BBC World Service, which is making a documentary on the parade.

Parades were also held around the world with one of the largest, and oldest, held in New York.

However, several cities such as Montreal and London held their St Patrick’s parades last weekend, while Sydney, which lit its opera house green in honour of the day, will hold its parade next Sunday.

About 50,000 people attended the Cork city parade which celebrated the city’s nautical and sea-faring history, “Ships to Shore”.

Up to 40,000 people were at the Waterford parade, which has the theme “Through the Looking Glass”.

The Limerick city parade took the patriotic theme “I Love Limerick” and attracted about 30,000 spectators.

Large numbers also attended parades in Belfast, Galway and Kilkenny, Tullamore and in Sligo which celebrated its 40th parade yesterday.