The Land of the Little People was over-run by giant leprechauns climbing up lamp-posts and ladders on the capital’s thronged streets. “The world’s tallest leprechaun” boasted matching T-shirts worn to Dublin’s St Patrick’s Day parade by six Spanish ladies.
“I think it’s great,” said Lia Raimondo from Queensland, craning to watch the parade on Dame Street, “but I can’t see it.” Undaunted, she planned to come back next year and get to the parade early.
The floats and bands were not the only show in town. When uniformed members of the garda mounted unit rode past at the corner of Trinity Street, a quintet of bystanders burst into The Rubberbandits song. “F*** your Honda Civic, I’ve a horse outside,” they sang lustily, to the bafflement