Fireworks at home and in Paris can keep party going

Ireland remains seriously en fete this weekend, with events including a scheduled fireworks display in Dublin and a hoped-for fireworks display from the Irish rugby team in Paris.

The pace set yesterday is kept up today with Dublin's continuing festival, and the conferring tonight of the freedom of city on the members of U2 and their manager as well as on the Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi.

The weekend celebrations reach an explosive climax tomorrow at 8 p.m. with "SkyFest 2000", a repeat of last year's pyrotechnical spectacular in the capital; this time spread out over a much wider area to avoid the crowd congestion of the inaugural event.

Earlier tomorrow, the Irish rugby team attempts to win three championship matches in succession, a feat last achieved around the time of St Patrick. Buoyed by big wins over Italy and Scotland, they face a French team slightly weakened by the suspension of hugely influential flanker Olivier Magne.

The weekend got off to a flying start yesterday with the traditional March 17th celebrations.

Arguably more buoyant than the Irish rugby team was the parade at Lanesboro, Co Longford, which was held on a stretch of the Shannon and featured Viking ships. A more understated approach was on display in Dripsey in Co Cork, which again laid claim to shortest parade, holding a 25-yard march between the village pubs.

Dublin saw around 500,000 people turn out for a parade led by actress Pauline McLynn and featuring floats and bands from as far away as Hiroshima. An entry from Barcelona won the award for the best float: a pageant featuring giant grasshoppers, spiders and dinosaurs.

Other winners yesterday included Crossmaglen and Athenry, victors in the All-Ireland club football and hurling championships, respectively, before a crowd of 32,000 at Croke Park; while slightly less than half that number saw Clongowes win the Leinster Schools Senior Cup at Lansdowne Road.

Even as Dublin's north quays explode tomorrow night, St Patrick's Cathedral will end the weekend on a quieter and more spiritual note with a "multicultural" celebration of the national saint at 7.30 p.m. A service "in prayer, song and dance", the event begins with a hymn in Irish and ends with the Magnificat in Swahili, and will stress St Patrick's immigrant status, challenging our perceptions of immigrants in general.

It will include the following excerpt from the saint's writings: "I returned to the Irish heathens to preach the good news and to put up with insults from unbelievers. I heard my mission abused. I endured many persecutions, even to the extent of chains."