Reports from around the world.
FRANCE
ST PATRICK'S Day celebrations in Paris were marked by the themes of information technology, ecology and peace-keeping. The visiting Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan, took the RER (Paris's equivalent of the Dart) to the newly recreated médiathèque at the Irish College. The centre has quintupled its holdings of books and CDs and has become a lending library in the forefront of information management.
Accompanied by the Irish Ambassador, Anne Anderson, Mr Ryan then travelled to EUfor at Mont Valérien, outside Paris. Col Cornelius McNamara and 19 Irish staff at operational headquarters for the European peacekeeping mission in Chad invited 150 European colleagues for a lunch of Irish beef and cheese, Guinness and Irish coffee. Fr Declan Hurley, the chaplain of the Irish College, blessed the shamrock.
At Paris city hall, Mr Ryan was briefed on the Vélib system, which provides bicycles for rent around the city. Before the annual reception at the embassy, he, Enterprise Ireland and the Irish companies Skillsoft, Eazysafe and Digitrust invited their French market contacts to the embassy for a presentation on e-learning, which the Minister presented as environment-friendly.
LARA MARLOWE
SWITZERLAND
IT WAS a day of low temperatures and high emotions for the Irish in the Swiss Alps yesterday as a small St Patrick's Day "parade" retraced the Flight Of The Earls across the deep snow-banked gorge where Hugh O'Neill and his entourage lost a small fortune when a pack horse fell into the icy ravine on the same day in 1608.
The Devil's Bridge was being crossed again by a motley crew of O'Donnells, O'Neills and others bearing the clans' banners and led by the renowned keeper of the O'Donnell flame, Vincent O'Donnell from the Rosses; Derry man and Irish Ambassador to Switzerland, James A Sharkey; and a trio of actors from Ouroboros in costume of the period.
The snow abated momentarily as the parade paused on the bridge while O'Donnell played Let Erin Remember on the bagpipes and a green cloak was passed to Ambassador Sharkey, symbolising the transition from Gaelic to modern Ireland and also providing him with some welcome protection from the icy blast in the gorge.
DENIS McCLEAN
BELGIUM
THE BELGIUM GAA club was the focal point for St Patrick's Day celebrations in Brussels this year as the expatriate community mixed with locals to enjoy a spectacle of Gaelic sports, which naturally was washed down with a few pints of porter.
Amid a flurry of green jerseys, enormous Guinness hats and youngsters with colourful face paintings, revellers tucked into Irish stew provided by the Brussels-based Irish butcher Jack O'Shea before heading off to an Irish dancing and music evening at the nearby car museum, Autoworld.
A massive downpour as the céilí got under way swelled the numbers at the session as scores of anti-war protesters taking part in a neighbouring demonstration took shelter at the gig. But no one seemed to mind the crush as the Irish dancers and musicians brought a little bit of home to Belgium.
JAMIE SMYTH
ARGENTINA
BUENOS AIRES was host to Latin America's largest St Patrick's Day celebration with estimates of 20,000 people attending the Argentine capital's all-night street party. Live music, traditional beers, Irish-themed hats and costumes were to the fore at the event which took place in a cordoned-off section of Buenos Aires city centre, where almost a dozen Irish bars, which organised the street party, are located. A weeklong Irish festival of traditional music, dance, art and literature is taking place throughout Buenos Aires. The largest of these is the Samuel Beckett Exhibition at Recoleta Cultural Centre, inaugurated by Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern.
MUIREANN PRENDERGAST
GERMANY
PRINCE PHILIP was the guest of honour of German St Patrick's Day celebrations, distributing shamrock to British troops. After a rainy field Mass in the western city of Paderborn, the Duke of Edinburgh presented sprigs of shamrock to members and retired members of the Queen's royal hussars. Meanwhile, the largest St Patrick's Day parade in Europe was well under way through the streets of Munich. More than 25,000 people turned out to see the spectacle, now in its 12th year. The parade completed its 2km route at the central Odeonsplatz. There, 34 musical groups and five local Irish dancing schools entertained the Irish and German onlookers and distracted them from the grey skies above.
DEREK SCALLY
INDIA
DURING HIS ongoing India visit, Éamon Ó Cuív, Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, not only retraced his grandfather Éamon de Valera's footsteps when he journeyed here six decades ago, but further cemented ties between two old friends. "Relations forged by de Valera who was a bold and vociferous supporter of the Indian freedom struggle and its leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru have only strengthened over the years," he declared yesterday at the road in New Delhi's diplomatic quarter, named after his grandfather on St Patrick's Day last year. The two countries that share a common past of British colonial rule and successful freedom struggles against it were now developing closer trade, commercial and business links, the Minister said.
RAHUL BEDI
SOUTH AFRICA
SOUTH AFRICA'S main St Patrick's Day celebration was thrown into turmoil at the weekend after Cape Town's notorious gale-force winds shredded the marquee erected to host the event shortly before it began. Just hours before the event, it was moved to the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food, Mary Wallace, attended the function, hosted by Irish developer Frank Gormley, one of the main people behind the redevelopment of Cape Town's inner city. Other well-known guests included Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool, Cape Town mayor and Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who is patron of the charitable trust that runs the event. Speaking at the function Archbishop Tutu thanked the Irish people for their commitment to and investment in Cape Town. "God says thank you, and he is smiling," he said.
BILL CORCORAN
ZIMBABWE
ZIMBABWE'S IRISH community could be forgiven if they found it difficult to get into the festive St Patrick's Day spirit yesterday - especially if they tried to buy a pint at official exchange rates. Law-abiding customers heading out to one of Harare's few remaining bars had to pay at least Zim$350m (€5.50) for a pint of the black stuff, if they could get it. Last January the southern African country recorded the world's highest annual inflation rate at over 100,000 per cent, and for the estimated 1,500 Irish passport holders living there daily life is difficult due to the economic and political turmoil gripping the country. Up to 300 Irish people managed to put their troubles aside for the St Patrick's Day's festival period thanks to an annual cultural grant donated by Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs. The money was used this year to help fund the main St Patrick's Day event in Harare last Saturday.
THAILAND
A ST PATRICK'S day motorbike parade was the last thing locals expected to see on the tiny island of Ko Lanta, with 20,000 citizens who are 80 per cent Muslim and 20 per cent Thai/Chinese Buddhist. But the handful of Irish on the island were determined to parade their national pride. A beach party was followed by a hooley, with enthusiastic involvement by natives and blow-ins, at the only Irish bar on the island, The Irish Embassy, owned and run by Darren Troy from Tullamore, Co Offaly, and Tony Gale from Lucan, Co Dublin. Guinness stew and Irish sausages rounded off the day.