‘One heck of a party’ – St Patrick's Day sun shines as thousands line the streets of Dublin

"How do you arrest people?" one asked.

"I grab them and put handcuffs on."

On his 22nd St Patrick's Day as a garda, the officer was more than obliging and provided great entertainment on a day chock-full of the stuff.

Dad has a question of his own: "Do you arrest bold children?”

The reply: "You can't blame the kids, you have to blame the parents." That got the biggest laugh of the day.

Away from the crowds, the lucky attendees in the grandstands competed for prizes. An American tourist from Minnesota took home a T-shirt "handmade by leprechauns in the west of Ireland" following a rousing rendition of Danny Boy.

Young Dublin native Naoise was pitted against Washington boy Fintan Ellis, the pair competing to see who could sing Christy Moore's Lisdoonvarna the fastest. The Dubliner came out the winner of a green hoodie he might take a few years to grow into.

In perhaps the most Irish element of pre-Paddy's Day preparation, talk of the weather for the day bordered on obsessive.

It's been said there's never an in-between on March 17. It'll be T-shirt weather or a washout and the 2024 edition brought the former to Dublin's main parade through the city centre.

The theme of this year's St Patrick's Festival, 'spréach', the Irish word for spark, perfectly summed up the energy on the day.

Festival organisers said the theme of 'spréach' was designed to encapsulate "what it is that makes Ireland and Irish people unique".

This included "the glint in our eyes", seen in every child who took in each moment with an equal degree of wonder.

It included "the fire in our bellies", seen in the unbridled excitement of more than half a million attendees, 100,000 of whom came from outside of Dublin to revel in the biggest party the nation had to offer.

It included "the spark of creativity and innovation" that drives the parade itself, seen in the spectacular displays from some 4,200 musicians, dancers and performers.

All the buzz and excitement of that Irish 'spréach' basked in sunshine and though clouds threatened and a few drops came down, the unexpected pleasant weather held out.

As they always do, children climbed the O'Connell Monument for a better view, families arrived decked out in green and the parade entertained, dazzled and amazed.

Proceedings kicked off from midday on Parnell Square, but excitement for the main event in the capital spread all across the country - across the globe even - before converging into a menagerie of joyful green parade goers.

On an early-morning bus from Galway, the driver wore a paddy cap for the day that was in it while a quartet of French students compared outfits and traded shamrock headbands, green crystals and tricolour face paint.

“Green suits you, you should wear it more often.”

Charlotte, from Lyon, replied: “I wear green all the time but nobody notices. My friends are so great.”

St Patrick's Day celebrations are the most remarkable coming together of Ireland old and new, the ritual of our national holiday and our patron saint alongside all we have welcomed to the country.

The inclusion of American marching bands is apt - our own parades are a tradition borrowed from Stateside, stretching back hundreds of years to Florida, New York and Boston.

This year, St Vincent-St Mary High School from Akron, Ohio – boasting a rather special past pupil in NBA great LeBron James – brought their Fighting Irish band while the University of Missouri Tigers were well supported with plenty of Show Me State natives joining into their fight songs from the grandstands.

Coming all the way from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sean Reppen said his own name was not Irish but his mother Mary was an O'Connor from Youghal, Co Cork.

"We’re here as part of a big tour and coming out of the hotel it looks like it’s going to be one heck of a party – or a cracking good time,” he said.

Before hitting the Fair City for the Paddy’s Day festivities, Mr Reppen visited his mother’s native south, visiting hot spots including Killarney town and Blarney Castle.

Dancers from Lithuania, Bolivia, Latvia and Ukraine were a shining light for the new Irish. Among them was Palestinian student Omar, dancing while draped in the traditional keffiyeh in recognition of the perseverance and resilience of his people.

Our ability to lift up our communities was celebrated in the parade being joined for the first time by representatives of the North East Inner City (NEIC) Initiative, an effort that has brought much positivity to that part of Dublin's inner city.

The 200-strong NEIC pageant was a spectacle worthy of the event, a real highlight of the day complete with cheerleaders, a boxing ring and children dressed as Dublin city lampposts.

Even the decision to opt for Patrick Kielty as grand marshal, himself a symbol of an ever-changing Irish institution in the Late Late Show, is a nod to the adaptability intertwined with our heritage.

Kielty was closely followed in the parade by "the second most important Patrick of the day”, St Patrick himself.