English: Every year I look forward to photographing the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Dublin and this year was no different. I got up early this morning and looked out my bedroom window window to see what the weather was like and it appeared to be OK. Therefore, when I decided to leave to go to the press briefing I was more than surprised to discover that it was raining very heavy.

By the time I got to my destination it was actually snowing (really wet cold snow). Anyway, at the briefing we were introduced to Nicky Byrne. "One of Ireland’s best loved and internationally celebrated pop-artists", Nicky Byrne, acted as Grand Marshal for this year’s St. Patrick’s Festival Parade. "A native of Dublin, Byrne was chosen by Festival organisers for his outstanding contribution to the entertainment industry".
After the briefing I decided to have breakfast at a Hungarian restaurant on Bolton Street (great value) instead of photographing the "People's Parade". At about 11:30 as the snow had ceased I decided to check out the media facilities provided by the organizers and much to my surprise there were very few spectators along the planned route.
The weather appears to have had an impact on the number of people who attended the event. I was located on a bus (an excellent platform for photographers) at the corner of Parnell Square and I was surprised to see that there were very few onlookers compared to previous years when it was almost impossible to find a good position from which to view the the parade.
Early this morning the weather was very unpleasant here in Dublin and I was worried that it might be difficult to photograph the St. Patrick's Day Parade which was scheduled to start at 12 noon but fortunately the rain (snow) stopped shortly after the parade began.

Unfortunately many Dubliners must have decided to stay at home as the number of spectators was much less than previous years.