Today promises to be a St Patrick's Day like we've never seen before. City streets will not echo with tin-whistle renditions of The Wearing of the Green, Croke Park will fall silent and racecourses will be deserted.

The foot-and-mouth crisis has resulted in the postponement of all main parades, festivals and outdoor sporting events. Not only that, but Met Eireann predicts a "miserable enough" day, with wind and rain, mainly in the southern half of the country.

But today could be so different had you followed the career path of a politician. You could now be lapping up the sunshine in Cape Town or attending an Irish ball in Malaysia.

In all, 21 out of 31 ministers and ministers of state are travelling outside the State on events related to St Patrick's Day. In addition, the Government Chief Whip, Mr Seamus Brennan, and the Attorney General, Mr Michael McDowell, are attending events in Georgia and Chicago.

The five ministers staying at home this year are Mr Joe Walsh, Mr Charlie McCreevy, Ms Mary O'Rourke, Dr Jim McDaid and Ms Sile de Valera.

The US is by far the most popular destination, with 13 ministers and ministers of state attending functions there. Some politicians have already returned from these events, such as the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern.

The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, has also finished her trip, which involved leading a trade mission to Japan. She had the use of the Government jet for her trip, while other politicians are mainly travelling business or first class on scheduled flights. Mr Micheal Martin's spokeswoman was the only one to specify that the minister was travelling economy class to New York.

Meetings with Irish-American groups, officials and business leaders form the bulk of the politicians' schedules. These trips are crucially important for attracting investment to Ireland, according to the Industrial Development Authority.

"It's all about raising Ireland's profile in the relevant markets, particularly America but also the Far East and parts of Europe," said IDA spokesman Mr Colm Donlon. "Anywhere a minister is travelling, we will organise meetings with key investors. We target a select group very carefully."

However, Fine Gael's Mr Brian Hayes has criticised these trips, describing them as "colossal junkets at the taxpayers' expense".