With the people taking to the streets to celebrate St Patrick’s Day for the first time since 2019, the whole country is setting up for an array of festivities that will be bigger and better than ever before.
Including an additional one-off public holiday on 18 March, introduced to acknowledge the tough times of the pandemic, there will be parades, live music, Irish dancing, arts, culture and heritage aplenty in a long weekend stretching from St Patrick’s Day itself, on Thursday, 17 March, right through to Sunday, 20 March.
The epicentre of the merriment is the huge St Patrick’s Day Festival in Dublin (16 – 20 March), where this year’s landmark celebration will be the largest ever in scale and ambition.
Under the theme of ‘Connections’, the festival will be a moment for the nation, and the Irish tribe of 80 million across the world, to connect, reflect, celebrate and welcome.
With more pageants, more marching bands and more participants than ever before set to snake through the streets of Dublin, the iconic National St Patrick’s Day Parade will return to delight the hundreds of thousands attending on Thursday 17 March.
The festival is introducing a new Festival Quarter for 2022, which will be set up in the surrounds of the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks. The spectacular heritage site will become home to a magical day-to-night urban festival featuring a 3,000-capacity outdoor main stage, comedy tent, story yurt, relaxation areas and more.
Festival Quarter Days will feature everything from performances, theatre and giant games to talks, film screenings, interactive games, circus and science shows.
Some of the country’s top musicians will perform at the Festival Quarter site, while it will also host Céilí Mór, a massive and much-loved outdoor traditional dance session, this year guided by a former Riverdancer and champion Irish step-dancer.
A unique one and half day city retreat called ‘Breathe’ is also part of the Dublin festivities. Focused on wellness and resilience for individuals, communities and the planet, it will take place in the grounds of The Law Society of Ireland on March 18 and 19.
