Ireland is marking its second St Patrick’s Day of the coronavirus era with events scaled back in light to the threat to public health.

For the second year in a row, the pandemic ensured that the usual throngs and revelry were absent with public safety concerns governing the annual festivities, although the ongoing vaccination campaign provided hope for a return next year to the parades of the past at home and abroad.

However, the patron saint’s feast was marked in a socially distanced way by those who ventured out while, as usual, landmarks at home and abroad were illuminated with a green filter.