St. Patricks Day

March 17th is upon us again, a day to celebrate all things Irish! It is a day when the whole world looks upon us hailing from the Emerald Isle with a bit more compassion and warmth, a day when each year the Taoiseach of our country has an open invitation to the oval office to meet with the President of the United States (an honour not afforded to any other country).

Today booze will flow freely and people all over the world shall drink to excess, forget their worries and dress up as every exaggerated Irish stereotype they can think of and nobody shall think any the worse of them because of it.

Also on this day each year our ministers and political leaders travel abroad to other countries to promote Ireland as a place for Tourism and to do Business. Each year to go with this political exodus people all over the country complain and moan about this "wasted money". But in all honesty this is money well spent. An article in the Irish Independent by Miriam Donohoe recently brought the same issue to light. As she says "St. Patricks day is a global phenomenon, the envy of the world, bringing with it a massive fund of goodwill towards our country". What many people fail to realise is that this is the perfect day to convince people of our positive attributes as a country. It's like trying to get a favour on your birthday, only the meanest of people would begrudge you.

So rather than complain, we should encourage our ministers and all politicians to get out and promote our country. Embrace the Green, Ireland is open for business again!