John Gormley, Green Party leader - "I learned what I like best about the Irish people: it's their creativity, their adaptability and their resilience"

John Gormley, Green Party leader

LIKE many Irish people, I learned to appreciate St Patrick's Day best when I lived outside Ireland.

During the two years I worked and studied in Germany I was frequently surprised at the international impact of St Patrick's Day.

Celebrating our national day with friends from many other countries in places such as Freiburg and Berlin made me reflect with pride on the huge international impact of such a numerically small group. From those experiences, I learned what I like best about the Irish people: it's their creativity, their adaptability and their resilience. And in these challenging times we need those Irish characteristics more than ever.

But I must also mention the downside, which is rampant alcohol abuse. I dearly wish 'Irishness' on our national day was not so often expressed by public drunkenness. St Patrick's Day is a day to showcase all that is best in Irish culture.

Fortunately, I'm at home this year and I look forward to going to the parade in Dublin with my family.

Bíodh Lá le Pádraig iontach agaibh!