St Patrick's Day: Countries celebrate Ireland's patron saint

Countries around the world are celebrating St Patrick's Day on Wednesday, with online events replacing traditional parades.

Landmarks across the globe turned green for the day in honour of Ireland's patron saint.

Large gatherings were ruled out in many parts of the world due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Traditional parades in Belfast and Dublin were cancelled for the second year in a row.

However events marking the day took place across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which are being streamed online.

They included an online disco and live music events in Belfast, while more than 100 online events were held in the Republic of Ireland and broadcast around the world.

Traditionally, a bowl of shamrock is presented to the US president every year on 17 March by the visiting taoiseach (Irish PM).

That long-standing tradition continued this year, albeit virtually.

The bowl was placed on President Joe Biden's desk during his meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin on Wednesday.

The two leaders discussed, among other things, combating Covid-19 and supporting political and economic stability in Northern Ireland.

They might not have been in the same room but President Biden and the taoiseach were still able to virtually wish each other a Happy Saint Patrick's Day.

It was a day of a firsts - a first for Joe Biden as president who pledged his support for the Good Friday Agreement.

Referring to the Good Friday Agreement he said: "We strongly support y and think it is critically important that we maintain it. The political and economic stability of Northern Ireland is very much in the interest of all our peoples."

And it was also Mr Martin's first St Patrick's Day as taoiseach.

He said he wanted to move forward with a "positive relationship with the UK."

"That means standing by what has been agreed and working together to make a success of it.

"That in turn then can help maintain peace and promote greater reconciliation on our shared island - goals I know you support," he added.

Northern Ireland's first and deputy first ministers also held a virtual meeting with US President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris.

A range of issues were covered during the meeting including progress on tackling the Covid-19 pandemic and economic recovery, as well as highlighting regional strengths and priorities.

Michelle O'Neill and Arlene Foster Ministers also expressed hope that President Biden and Vice President Harris would visit Northern Ireland at some point in the future.

Hundreds of extra police officers were on duty in Northern Ireland for a "robust" response to St Patrick's Day rule breakers.

First Minister Arlene Foster had warned that St Patrick's Day "must be different" in Northern Ireland this year, to ensure progress made during the coronavirus lockdown continues.

In the Republic of Ireland, Gardaí (police) had a significant operation in place to deal with planned protests in Dublin city centre.

Sixteen people were arrested in the city for failing to comply with directions from garda to abide by Covid-19 regulations.

The Queen extended her best wishes to the people of Ireland for St Patrick's Day, 10 years after she visited.

In her message to Irish President Michael D Higgins, she said: "We share ties of family, friendship and affection, the foundation of our partnership that remains as important today as 10 years ago."

Since 2010, landmarks around the world have gone green in honour of St Patrick and this year, with a record number of places taking part.

Some 690 sites in 66 countries will take part in Tourism Ireland's Global Greenings initiative.

Alongside more famous landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House and Leaning Tower of Pisa were more quirky ones such as an abandoned sauna tilted on its side beside a lake in Finland, and a solar power-generated giraffe in Mozambique.

In Chicago, officials had cancelled the annual colouring of the Chicago River but the city's mayor decided to continue with the tradition, minus the fanfare.

St Patrick lived in the 5th Century and is understood to have played a major part in converting the Irish to Christianity.

He is traditionally associated with the shamrock plant, which he used to explain the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

St Patrick's Day started as a religious feast to celebrate his work, but it has grown to be an international festival of all things Irish.