Two major suburban towns are abandoning plans for a St Patrick’s Day parade due to lack of volunteers, high costs as well as personal reasons.

Housing Minister Simon Coveney has this week returned from St Patrick's Day festivities in Canada, where he was busy promoting Cork, and Ireland, and supporting the Irish diaspora there.

Mangan’s clock, city trams, and an old woman in a shoe: just some of the floats in Cork’s St Patrick’s Day parade, says COLETTE SHERIDAN