First things first, when does the St Patrick’s Day parade start?
We can only assume that when you say parade, you’re talking about the Dublin spectacular as that’s the one that will be the biggest draw on the day, with hundreds of thousands of people set to line to streets to watch it pass. It gets under way at noon on Monday.
So if I rock up to the GPO at 11.55am, I’ll be grand, will I?
No, you will not be grand, unless by grand you mean staring forlornly at people’s heads a kilometre away from the GPO. You certainly won’t have much of a view of the floats, the marching bands, the frozen cheerleaders and all the rest that will travel along the parade route.
So when should I show up?
That, of course, is entirely up to you, but based on our experience of St Patrick’s Day parades in times past, people start to line the route from as early as 9am to get the best vantage point. Now that is on the early side, but you should probably have secured yourself a spot by about 11am at the latest.
And what can I expect from the parade?
Well, every year it has a theme, and this year the theme is adventures or “eachtraí” in Irish.
Adventures? What does that mean?
Those behind the St Patrick’s Day Festival have said it represents “the unique essence of Ireland and of Irish people”.
Fair enough, so there will be a lot of adventures during the parade?
Truth be told, the parade participants tend to have a fairly loose interpretation of the theme, but typically you can expect pyrotechnics, people on stilts, men, women and children in lurid costumes racing at the crowd banging drums and scaring the bejaysus out of people, animatronic monsters blowing smoke into the sky, absolutely enormous brass bands from high schools across the United States, cheerleaders twirling batons, the guy from the Corpo pushing a machine that scoops up what the horses leave behind - he always gets the biggest cheer, President Michael D Higgins, Lord Mayor of Dublin Emma Blain in a very old carriage, and maybe some bicycles and cars.
But - most importantly - will there be men throwing sweets into the crowd from the back of tractors?
Ah, g’wan out of that, that hasn’t happened at a Dublin parade since the 1970s - although you might still find it happening in one of the hundreds of parades that are taking place in cities, towns and villages around the country to mark the holiday of our patron saint.
Do you have any more details of what we will actually see in the Dublin parade?
There will be surprises for sure, but what we do know is the parade will feature seven large-scale pageants, six showpieces and 12 marching bands from across Ireland, North America and Austria. All told, there will be more than 4,000 participants.
That sounds like fun - it also sounds long. But how long is it? And how much time will I spend standing on the street in the cold?
It depends on the year but you should allow anywhere between 60 and 90 minutes for the parade to pass you by.
The parade starts at Parnell Square North, making its way down O’Connell Street and Westmoreland Street, before turning on to Dame Street, and finishing at Kevin Street Lower.
And what will the weather be like?
It won’t be warm but it shouldn’t be wet. There will be a few light showers on St Patrick’s Day, but it will remain dry in most areas. Highest temperatures will be between 7 and 10 degrees, but it will feel a little colder in a rather brisk easterly wind. In other words, wear the warmest socks you can find and if you have thermals put them on.
Should I drive into the city?
Meh, we’d advise against that to be honest. There is an extensive policing plan in place across Dublin, with about 1,000 gardaí on the beat. And the guards are advising people planning to attend the parade to arrive early, plan their journey and use public transport where possible. There will be rolling road closures and traffic restrictions across the city centre from early on Monday.
What’s the story with public transport?
There will be more of it than normal, but like private cars, much of the public transport will have to be curtailed or find alternate routes over the course of the morning.
The good news is that Dublin Bus has increased capacity over the weekend. It typically operates Nitelink services each Friday and Saturday but there will also be services on Sunday night and Monday night.
Iarnród Éireann has a range of extra services, for the St Patrick’s Bank Holiday weekend. Extra trains will operate on St Patrick’s Day, including trains before and after the Dublin parade, as well as late-night trains on Dart and Dublin commuter routes.
There will be disruptions to Luas services. The Red Line will run between Tallaght/Saggart and Smithfield only between 10am and 3pm, while there will be no Green Line service between St Stephen’s Green and Dominick between 7am and 6pm.
What about Cork, what’s happening there?
We’re glad you asked. The St Patrick’s Day parade will begin at 1pm and will feature more than 3,000 participants. There will be international groups including the high school Spartan Legion marching band from Colorado and Batala, the international collection of local samba groups from several areas in the UK and farther afield, who wowed the crowds at their first appearance last year.
The Kabin Studio, whose song The Spark has just won the RTÉ Choice music song of the year, will lead out the parade as a grand marshall group.
The craic will begin at the junction of South Mall and Parnell Place, before it makes its way along South Mall and Grand Parade, then up St Patrick’s Street to finish on Merchants Quay.
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And in Belfast?
The parade there will be led by the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Micky Murray. Starting at City Hall at 1.30pm, local dance troupes, schools, community groups and musicians will weave their way through the city centre via Chichester Street, Victoria Street, High Street, Castle Place and Donegall Place, before returning to City Hall.
