Irish pubs were today shut for another St Patrick’s Day as the government in Dublin told people the most patriotic thing they can do is to stay at home.
The streets of the famous Temple Bar, usually packed with drinkers, were largely deserted save for a few police patrols just over a year since the pubs were first closed by Leo Varadkar.
But Irish expats in Benidorm, Sydney and cities across the U.S., where restrictions are more relaxed, were able to raise their glasses of Guinness and whiskey for their compatriots under tough lockdown rules in the motherland.
While anti-lockdown protesters were arrested by the gardai in Dublin, police officers joined a parade through the streets of New York City.
The Chicago River was turned green, emerald-dyed beer was poured at bars in Philadelphia and in Australia, which has largely avoided Covid, people danced the night away dressed in leprechaun hats and green rugby jerseys.
There were only muted celebrations in Ireland, with an ‘Orchestra of Light’ last night – 500 drones lighting up the River Liffey with shamrocks and harps – reminiscent of the spectacle laid on over the Thames by London Mayor Sadiq Khan on New Year’s Eve.
BENIDORM: Irish and British expats soak up the sun with beer in hand and leprechaun hats on their heads in Spain on Wednesday
SYDNEY: People partying in Australia for St Patrick’s Day last night while Irish people back in Ireland are stuck inside their homes
DUBLIN: Gardai arrest a woman on O’Connell Street, Dublin’s main thoroughfare, as officers cracked down on an anti-lockdown protest in breach of the country’s strict rules
BENIDORM: Drinking in the sun and the booze were British and Irish expats on the south eastern Spanish coast on Wednesday
DUBLIN: A man is led away by police officers in Dublin city centre on Wednesday as they enforced the country’s tough covid restrictions
SYDNEY: St Patricks Day revellers at The Rocks in Sydney, Australia, party into the night in one of the few places in the world where it is legal to do so
GEORGIA: St. Patrick’s Day revelers packed downtown Savannah on Saturday night, letting loose despite pandemic warnings
DUBLIN: Garda speak to a lone demonstrator on O’Connell Street in Dublin city centre ahead of a planned anti-lockdown protest
DUBLIN: Garda ride through the deserted Temple Bar area of Dublin on St Patrick’s Day
CHICAGO: Johnny Ludwig and Chris Coomes play bagpipes ahead of St. Patrick’s Day along the Chicago River, dyed green every year to honor the city’s Irish American heritage
DUBLIN: A display by Tourism Ireland entitled ‘Orchestra of Light’ featuring a swarm of 500 drones is animated in the night sky above the Samuel Beckett bridge on the river Liffey for St Patrick’s Day, as it is cancelled for the second year in a row due to the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Dublin, Ireland
DUBLIN: A display by Tourism Ireland entitled ‘Orchestra of Light’ featuring a swarm of 500 drones is animated in the night sky above the Samuel Beckett bridge on the river Liffey
DUBLIN: Catholics carrying a statue of the Virgin Mary during a procession to mark St Patrick’s Day in the Irish capital on Wednesday
DUBLIN: Worshippers take part in a Christian procession through the streets of Dublin on Wednesday despite government advice not to stray more than three miles from your home
It comes after Health Minister Simon Foster warned on Tuesday: ‘What I would suggest tomorrow – the most patriotic thing people can actually do in terms of our national battle against Covid-19 is stick to the public health advice.
‘Because in about two weeks’ time the Government wants to be able to sit down with our public health experts and work out what the next few weeks look like and we desperately want to be able to see some of the harshest restrictions eased.
‘Particularly, and I don’t want to exceed expectations here, but particularly things like the five kilometres, which is really punitive and really difficult for people.
‘We want to see construction start to come back and people be able to do that little bit more outdoors.
‘My message, the Government’s message, the chief medical officer’s message, is: Let’s not do anything tomorrow that risks that.’
He said he was ‘really confident’ that if the public followed the public health advice there would be a ‘slow, steady and gradual’ reopening of the country in the coming weeks.
‘Don’t set our country back for the sake of a day, for the sake of a special occasion,’ he added.
In Northern Ireland, First Minister Arlene Foster told people that St Patrick’s Day ‘must be different’ this year due to the ongoing risk of the virus.
More than 2,500 gardai were deployed at checkpoints and on main roads across the Republic on Wednesday.
Much of the focus was on Dublin amid fears that anti-lockdown activists will seek to use the public holiday to demonstrate against coronavirus restrictions.
There were ugly scenes at St Stephen’s Green last month, when gardai were attacked with fireworks during a protest against the restrictions.
Several people were seen being loaded into the back of police vans on Wednesday afternoon but there was no sign of any widespread public gathering.
Gardai were patrolling roads in the city, with officers asking people the reason for their journey to establish whether is it essential.
The Queen today expressed her best wishes to the Irish President, Michael D Higgins, and the people of Ireland, ahead of St Patrick’s Day.
She also ‘fondly’ remembered her historic visit to Ireland a decade ago.
In response Mr Higgins extended his ‘warmest appreciation for your good wishes on our national day’ and described her 2011 visit as a ‘moment of healing’.
GEORGIA: Savannah City Hall withheld a permit for the sprawling St. Patrick’s festival that’s typically a magnet for beer-fueled revelry along the city’s riverfront promenade — but that didn’t stop the bawdy revelries on Saturday night
BENIDORM: Irish and British expats in Spain seen enjoying St.Patricks day sunshine celebrations in the bars and terraces
BENIDORM: A couple wearing St Patrick’s Day hats toast as they enjoy the sunshine on the Spanish coast on Wednesday
NEW YORK CITY: Mayor Bill de Blasio marches in the 260th St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York. 260th St. Patrick’s Day Parade early on Wednesday morning
GEORGIA: The Plant Riverside District festival started on Friday and is going on through Wednesday, St. Patrick’s Day
NEW YORK CITY: A bagpipe player and members of the Fighting 69th Infantry Regiment, the New York Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, march outside of St. Patrick’s Cathedral following a small early morning parade before a St. Patrick’s Day mass
NEW YORK CITY: New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan (C) prays with a woman outside of St. Patrick’s Cathedral before a St. Patrick’s Day mass
PHILADELPHIA: A woman pours a pitcher of green-dyed beer on the morning of St. Patrick’s Day at McGillin’s Olde Ale House
DUBLIN: Members of An Garda speak to a man on O’Connell Street in Dublin city centre on Wednesday amid brutal lockdown restrictions
DUBLIN: Gardai arrest a woman on O’Connell Street in Dublin city centre ahead of a planned anti-lockdown protest
DUBLIN: People dressed to celebrate St Patrick’s Day stand on O’Connell Street in central Dublin on Wednesday afternoon
DUBLIN: Little girls dressed in green play on O’Connell Street as gardai officers watch on in the Irish capital on Wednesday afternoon
DUBLIN: A woman cries out as she is placed in handcuffs by police officers in the Irish capital on Wednesday amid tough Covid lockdown rules
The Queen’s message read: ‘On the occasion of your National Day, I would like to convey to Your Excellency my congratulations, together with my best wishes to the people of Ireland.
‘This year marks ten years since my visit to Ireland, which I remember fondly, and it marks a significant centenary across these islands.
‘We share ties of family, friendship and affection – the foundation of our partnership that remains as important today as ten years ago.
She signed off in the Irish language: ‘La Fheile Padraig sona daoibh go leir (Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all of you.’
Mr Higgins said: ‘Your special memory of your visit to Ireland ten years ago this year, is one that is shared and invoked regularly by all of us in Ireland, being as it was in its generosity of spirit such a moment of healing.
‘It has done so much to deepen our shared sense of the breadth and vibrancy of the connection between our two countries at every level.
DUBLIN: Tom Cleary, owner of the Temple Bar poses for a picture at his pub in the Temple Bar area of Dublin City centre.
NEW YORK CITY: Irish wolf hounds are led by members of the Fighting 69th Infantry Regiment, the New York Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, into St Patrick’s Cathedral on Wednesday
FLORIDA: Maskless runners of all ages are pictured wearing green shirts, including one that reads ‘here to paddy’ on Saturday in Pensacola
FLORIDA: About 2,400 runners participate in the annual McGuire’s St. Patrick’s Day Run in Pensacola on Saturday
GEORGIA: Sidelining Savannah’s largest gatherings and parade hasn’t stopped the party. The city’s top tourism official says hotels in the downtown historic district could be 90 percent full this weekend – the busiest they’ve been in the past year
GEORGIA: Despite the lingering health risks, Savannah’s hotels and shops, bars and restaurants are hungry for tourism dollars
‘It will continue to inspire the achievement of those possibilities in the future that we might share.’
He said St Patrick’s Day would be celebrated in the hearts of generations of Irish people who have made their home in Britain, and their British friends and family, as well as by the many British people who have happily made their home in Ireland.
‘I know that the movement and circulation of our peoples is a source of continuing joy for us both,’ he added.
Mr Higgins ended his message in Irish, wishing the Queen and her family a happy and peaceful St Patrick’s Day: ‘Guim La Fheile Padraig sona agus siochanta ort agus ar do mhuintir’.
DUBLIN: A man walks past The Oliver St. John Gogarty pub, closed down due to Covid-19, in the Temple Bar area of Dublin
DUBLIN: Pedestrians walk past the Auld Dubliner pub, closed down due to Covid-19, in the Temple Bar area of Dublin City centre
CHICAGO: Meanwhile, the Chicago River was dyed a bright shade of green Saturday in a surprise move, after Mayor Lori Lightfoot reversed an earlier decision not to tint the waterway for second year
CHICAGO: Workers clean a boat in the Chicago River after it was dyed green in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day on March 13. The dyeing of the river, a St. Patrick’s Day tradition in the city, was cancelled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic
GEORGIA: Partygoers are seen in downtown Savannah on Saturday as a festival on private property is expected to draw huge crowds
GEORGIA: Despite the lingering health risks, Savannah’s hotels and shops, bars and restaurants are hungry for tourism dollars
DUBLIN: A worker cleans the road outside The Temple Bar pub, closed down due to Covid-19, in the Temple Bar tourist area of central Dublin today. On the eve of St. Patrick’s Day the cellar of The Temple Bar should be stacked head-high with kegs – enough to serve 8,000 pints to Dubliners toasting Ireland’s patron saint. But only a smattering of empty caskets lined the chilled basement of the crimson-coloured pub, the cornerstone of the capital’s drinking district.
The Queen and her husband Philip made the trip to the Republic in 2011 on the invite of then president Mary McAleese.
It was the first official visit by a reigning British monarch in 100 years.
During her four-day visit the Queen laid a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance, visited Croke Park, the English Market in Co Cork and toured the Rock of Cashel in Co Tipperary.
At a state dinner in Dublin Castle in her honour the Queen spoke of the ‘painful legacy’ of the relationship between Britain and Ireland but also the close ties between the two countries.
She began her address by speaking in Irish: ‘A Uachtarain agus a chairde.’