Saint Patrick's Day have been cross-community St Patrick's Day parades in towns throughout Northern Ireland, which have attracted thousands of spectators. In the mid-1990s the government of the Republic of Ireland began a campaign to use St Patrick's Day to showcase Ireland and its culture. The government set up a group called St Patrick's Festival, with the aims: The first St Patrick's Festival was held on 17 March 1996. In 1997, it became a three-day event, and by 2000 it was a four-day event. By 2006, the festival was five days long; more than 675,000 people attended the 2009 parade. Overall 2009's five-day
TrSS St Patrick (1906) TrSS St Patrick (1906) TrSS "St Patrick" was a passenger vessel built for the Great Western Railway in 1906. She was built by John Brown and Company for the Great Western Railway as one of a trio of new ships which included TrSS "St George" and TrSS "St David". From 1914 to 1919 she was requisitioned by the British Government as a hospital ship for the duration of the First World War. On 20 August 1927 she was in collision with her sister ship TrSS "St David" in Fishguard harbour. She was re-engined in 1926 and caught fire on 7