There is a tradition of throwing objects off floats during parades in New Orleans. At Mardi Gras it's beads; for St Patrick's it is cabbages, and more recently, potatoes and carrots. You can't throw the objects back, so when a couple of years ago one of our ministers was hit by a cabbage he had to just grin and bear it. This year, Sile de Valera, attending St Patrick's Day ceremonies one month before the 80th anniversary of her grandfather's 1920 tour seeking recognition for the State, avoided the parade altogether by arriving when it was over.
In Japan, no less personages than Pat Rabbitte and Sean Doherty led the St Patrick's Day parade in Tokyo and brought the already logjammed traffic to an even more complete standstill. The two heroes of the PAC inquiry into DIRT were in the city, with colleagues Beverly Cooper-Flynn and Sean Ardagh, to meet their opposite numbers in the ministries for budget and competition. Along with the US ambassador Tom Foley and our ambassador Declan O'Donovan the duo donned the shamrock and green ties and marched ahead of three bands, including the US army, in front of 3,000 bystanders, before all adjourned to the pub.
In another St Patrick's event, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen, took time out in Washington last week to open a pub in Alexandria - Ireland's Own - for fellow Offaly man Pat Troy. He pulled a pint and made a speech.