Dublin Parade Expects 500,000

More than 500,000 people are expected to participate in the 2023 St Patrick's Festival in Dublin. Organisers say the three-day festival will be the most ambitious ever.

St Patrick's Festival Quarter will return to Collins Barracks for a second year with an outdoor stage, performance spaces, a mini funfair and food and craft village.

A new opening pageant has been commissioned featuring a collaboration with with Macnas, Junk Kouture, Discovery Gospel Choir and many other community groups.

A new strand of the festival this year is Suntas, which means "take notice". It will feature giant creative interventions on iconic buildings around Dublin as the city turns green. The giant monsters will be visible by day and illuminated by night.

More than 4,000 participants are expected to take part in the parade on 17 March. It will feature seven  creative pageants, 10 transitional showpiece performances and 15 marching bands from across Ireland, North America and Canada. There will also be the aerial artists, Fidget Feet, in what promises to be a "spectacular high-flying display".