ST PATRICK'S FESTIVAL IN IRELAND
St. Patrick has in recent years become the focal point of a festival in Dublin which reflects the diverse talents and achievements of a now supremely confident Irish people.  Once confined to a single day, it now spreads itself over almost an entire week and attracts an international audience of well over 1 million - not just the Irish themselves or those of Irish descent but also those who sometimes might wish to be Irish.  A truly carnival atmosphere provides a backdrop for days of music, madness and magic, which include street theater, fireworks displays, pageants, exhibitions, music and dance. Throughout the week, the Irish themselves do one of the things they do best, having a party, a celebration full of warmth, fun and energy.

The highlight of the festival is the city's St. Patrick's Day parade.  There was a time when the equivalent parade in New York was considered to be the most spectacular in the world.  That is no longer the case.  The parade in Dublin has now taken its rightful place as being the most spectacular and exciting of them all.  It provides a showcase not only for the most imaginative Irish talents but also for increasingly more diverse international ones.  It provides manifest proof to the assertion that on St. Patrick's Day just about all the world wants to join in celebration.

Dublin St. Patrick's Festival, moreover, provides a headline for community cooperation something which Patrick himself is being used to demonstrate more and more throughout the island.

For the latest information on the St. Patrick's Festival in Dublin, check out the website: www.stpatricksday.ie

St. Patrick's Day also provides a focal point for celebrations in many other towns in Ireland.  Among the most significant of them are in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Killarney.