More than 75 years of St Patrick's Day Parade participants marching proudly through Dublin with the warm Irish sun on their backs has come to an end with the scrapping of the traditional parade route from St Patrick's Cathedral to Parnell Square.
In the parade's biggest break with tradition yet, this year's march will run north-south, from Parnell Square, in order to accommodate the sunlight.
In previous years photographers and cameramen were dazzled by the sun which caused difficulties in getting the best pictures of the participants, according to parade organisers.
"The problem was that the sun was highlighting the cameramen and not the participants.
"This has come up before in several letters to The Irish Times over the years, but this year we decided to do something about it," said Mr Donal Shiels, St Patrick's Festival chief executive.However, Mr Sheils said he believed the public would welcome the new route.
"Ireland has changed a lot over the last 20 years and people are more open to new things, so I don't think there will be any problem changing the traditional route."
The new route will also help to alleviate traffic problems associated with the All-Ireland Club Final matches in Croke Park, by enabling the gardaí to reopen northside roads earlier, he said.
More than one million people, including 250,000 overseas visitors, are expected to attend the festival from March 17th to 20th.
The programme includes theatre, music, visual arts, comedy, dance, family events and Europe's largest annual fireworks display.
A greater area of public space is available on O'Connell Street than in previous years, due to the progress of continuing improvement works, and the central median will host an open-air food and craft market.
