‘I just think we’re deadly’: Crowds gather in Dublin for St Patrick’s Day parade

Dublin’s St Patrick’s Day parade is expected to draw thousands of spectators to the streets of the Irish capital.

The spectacle – comprising 12 large floats and more than 3,000 participants – will run from Parnell Square in the north of the city, down Dublin’s main thoroughfare, O’Connell Street, and ending at the Cuffe Street/Kevin Street junction on the south side of the city.

Performers in the parade include Macnas, Bui Bolg, Spraoi, the Inishowen Carnival Group, and The Outing Queer Arts Collective.

The Rotunda Hospital, located near the start of the parade, makes its first appearance with a special float designed by ArtFX.

TV presenter and podcaster Vogue Williams, who is the grand marshal of this year’s parade, said she could not sleep last night with the excitement.

Asked why she was proud to be Irish, she said: “I just think we’re deadly. We just are, and we annoyingly gravitate towards each other as well.

“Even in London, I’ve got my group of Irish friends; you go away, you’re looking for an Irish bar.

“We all just love hanging out with each other, and I just think you meet an Irish person, and you’re bound to have a good night.”

She said she is “back in her parade era” and said the parade would show visitors “a really good time”.

When told the Dublin mayor Ray McAdam was keen to meet her, she said: “Oh fantastic, maybe he’ll let me wear his necklace.”

“You can be done for treason for wearing the Lord Mayor’s necklace, apparently,” chief executive of the St Patrick’s Festival Richard Tierney told her.

“Really? We’ll see.”

Major parades are also due to kick off in Belfast, Cork and Galway, while in Jessie Buckley’s native Killarney, they are set to mark her Oscars achievement with a float dedicated to successful people from the Co Kerry town.

The theme of this year’s parade is celebrating people and roots, and will feature marching bands from Scotland and eight from the United States: Ohio, Arizona, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Mississippi, Indiana and Texas.

Irish premier Micheal Martin, who is due to meet US president Donald Trump in the Oval Office later on Tuesday, has also emphasised the depth of the link between Ireland and the US during engagements in Philadelphia and Washington DC.