Thousands of people are expected to gather in towns and cities across Northern Ireland to celebrate St Patrick's Day on Monday. Belfast promises to be a multicultural celebration of music, culture, the Irish language and community.

The spread of St. Patrick's Day celebrations in the U.S. was a way for Irish immigrant communities, who in the 19th century faced discrimination and opposition, to stake that ground, he says: “It’s a kind of immigrant Irish way of combating nativist antagonism against them.”

Located off the coast of West Cork on the southwestern-most coast of Ireland, between Schull Harbour, Roaringwater Bay and the Celtic Sea, Ireland's Long Island is the third-largest of what are known as Carberry's Hundred Isles.