LONDON'S Trafalgar Square was awash with green this afternoon – leprechaun hats, face paint and sports jerseys.
People from all walks of life filtered in for the St Patrick’s Day festival, the first major event in London since the UK first locked down in March 2020.
Eleven different essential worker representatives – from firemen to paramedics and supermarket cashiers – and one representative from Ukraine holding a blue and yellow flag, flanked the Taoiseach Micheal Martin as he took to the stage.
Mr Martin said: “I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate the Irish rugby team – I had the occasion to be in Twickenham yesterday alongside the British prime minister as we went through the game and the various decisions and suffice it to say, the Irish team weathered the storm against a very gallant and very spirited England team.”
“St Patrick’s Day is about reconnecting with our communities all around the world – togetherness, celebrating our identity, culture, art, and the tremendous diaspora, with links in cities all over the world.
“I’m here in London to nurture that important British-Irish relationship, which is the most important of them all, given our family links down the centuries and so on.”
Terrence O’Sullivan, from Tralee, was among the crowd representing the London Fire Brigade.
“The parade was very good craic and the singing was amazing”, he said, adding that seeing Seamus Moore was the highlight of his day.
London Fire Brigade representative Terrence O'Sullivan, from Tralee, (left)“Seamus Moore is a hero of mine – one of the best country and western singers in Ireland and England.
“I was starstruck, I couldn’t speak when I saw him. Honestly, I couldn’t believe it, he’s some man. His song the big bamboo – it sends chills down my spine every time he sings it.”
Also among the crowd were Frank, Tara and Grace Oliver – three generations of London-Irish, originally from Mayo.
“Can’t you tell?”, Frank asks, pointing incredulously to a Mayo scarf.
Grace, 16, is looking to move to Ireland, her mother Tara said.
“She made a grown man cry when she was over there [in Ireland] singing Irish traditional songs because he couldn’t believe a girl of her age from England would know them.”
Three generations of London Irish: Frank (right), his daughter Tara (right), and granddaughter Grace (middle)“It seems like the culture is shrinking but obviously”, Tara said pointing to the crowd, “there’s still a lot of us around and it’s going from generation to generation”.
“So even though she hasn’t got a parent that’s actually from Ireland, we’ve still handed down the traditions, the singing, the music and the party atmosphere and the craic.”
Not everyone has been chuffed with how the day has gone, though.
Brendan Brien, from Galway, said the queue to get in was “diabolical”.
He said: “I thought the entrance was diabolical today, people couldn’t get in with the long queues – over an hour queue to get in – so a lot of them drifted away, which was disappointing.”
Overall, Brendan said: “It’s been quite good, yes, the parade was smaller than normal which is disappointing but it picked up with people later in the day.”
See More: Irish In Lonodn, Micheál Martin, St Patrick's Day
