It also emerged yesterday that gardai arrested several hundred people for public drunkeness and fighting during celebrations in cities and towns across the country.

Gardai in several areas described the number of arrests as higher than expected. While garda stations in Dublin have yet to compile their figures, the number is expected to be in the hundreds.

Arrests were particularly high outside Dublin. Gardai at the Bridewell in Cork city made 71 arrests over the 24 hours. More than 50 arrests were made by gardai at Limerick's Henry Street station over the same period. Gardai in Donegal made over 40 arrests, while there were around 35 arrests made in both Galway and Waterford for public order offences.

Gardai in Sligo reported a "calm enough" St Patrick's festival, although they did confirm stopping a number of youths for underage drinking, including one 15-year-old male carrying a litre bottle of Ballygowan filled three-quarters full with whiskey. There was a significant crackdown in most major urban areas on underage drinking. However, eight children were presented to the A&E department of Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin over St Patrick's Day with alcoholrelated complaints. None of the children was admitted overnight.

While gardai have yet to compile a final number of arrests nationwide for public order offences over St Patrick's Day, initial indications are that the figure will be down on last year when over 700 people were arrested.

Meanwhile, hospitals nationwide are this weekend compiling figures for patient admissions to A&E departments on St Patrick's Day, but initial indications were that the numbers were down on previous years.