History.com In modern-day Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day has traditionally been a religious occasion. In fact, up until the 1970s, Irish laws mandated that pubs be closed on March 17. Beginning in 1995, however, the Irish government began a national campaign to use St. Patrick’s Day as an opportunity to drive tourism and showcase Ireland to the rest of the world. Last year, close to one million people took part in Ireland ‘s St. Patrick’s Festival in Dublin, a multi-day celebration featuring parades, concerts, outdoor theater productions, and fireworks shows.
Remember to keep the day holy. 
_____________________________
Related Link: Irish Pubs Worldwide (Locator)
Oh, and if further evidence is needed, read the bigoted statements of #19. Probably learned all about us from an episode of The Simpsons.
Oh and just one more thing. ‘#19, if we hate the British so much, why is our national day dedicated to a Welsh man? Just curious.
Okay now I’m done.
And I had a great day, thanks. Spent the afternoon at a street festival in the rain with good company and one of the few Irish girls who does actually have red hair and looks cute.
Neal. Stop whining.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6451019.stm
We are drunks. We need to deal with it. Hiding in the church is getting old. Get rid of the church, get rid of the repression and nonsense and maybe the people will find something else to do.
Speak for yourself. I don’t drink.
And have some pride, will you man.
Whoopie! you don’t drink. You are the best and I bow down to your superiority.
A lot of people do not drink but instead of being sanctimonious and a snob please do something about the rest that are addicted to alcohol. Stop supporting GAA and its Guinness sponsored games. Stop going to the Jameson Grand National. Because you don’t drink but attend or support alcohol sponsored sports or events makes you part of the problem by making it acceptable to be drunk.
We means collective. We the Irish people have a problem with alcohol. We deny this. It will continue until we stop denying it. Drinkers and “non drinkers” alike.
I have pride. Don’t you start pushing your crap about pride onto me. I have national pride but I am not in denial of the mess and mindless drinking that has overthrown our national day.
I was in the pub last night with friends from outside Ireland. I had a few beers. A few. Not a lot. A few. It is my right to go out and enjoy myself occasionally. Within an hour of getting off the plane they had seen people sick on the street and a fight.
Denying we have a collective problem with alcohol is naive. Being a snob about plastic hammers and what you think is tacky doesn’t go any way towards changing the image. If anything it helps perpetuate it because NOTHING is done apart from sniping and sneering.
Wake up. Do something. Stop whinging and moaning.
And, learn, to, use, commas, properly. Why do all the cranks have such poor grammatical skills?
I don’t attend any sporting events whatsoevery. Perhaps you are confusing me with somebody else with the same name as me, who attends sporting events. In
I wasn’t being superior about my not drinking. I was merely distancing myself from your statement which was “We are drunks”. I wanted it to be known that I am not a drunk. I am sorry that my lack of drinking is an annoyance to you. Perhaps I should take up drinking so as to be “at one” with my fellow countrymen, and live up to the stereotype.
However, I do apologise profusely for my apparant misuse of commas. I realise now that the misuse of commas is an evil that is almost as dangerous to the world as this alcohol of which we speak. I will immediately sign up for “Bad Grammer-users Anomynous”. I understand the first step in the recovery programme is to start using semi-colons, then you move on to colons.
Neal and billy -
At least I’m grateful that you two lads have laid the myth of Irish contentiousness to rest…
Sanctimonious crap. Neal for fucks sake get off your high horse.
You don’t listen. We are a nation of drinkers. This is a fact. Some people do not drink. This is also a fact. Being a pompus holier than thou about drinking gets us NOWHERE.
The church that you originally aspired to praising raped and murdered its way through the Irish population. Is it any wonder we don’t go to mass??