Slow easing of rules is not the uplifting St Patrick’s Day message that it might have been

Exact dates are unknown but it is 1,600 or so years since St Patrick arrived in Ireland and played a key role in spreading Christianity in the island.

That spread has left an imprint here ever since, with church going rates markedly higher on both sides of the Irish border than they are now in Great Britain.

Much of the celebration of St Patrick’s Day now is secular, normally dominated by revelry and sporting events.

Irish republicans have attempted to appropriate some of the heritage of St Patrick, not entirely successfully but it has ensured that the festivities in Belfast have a tribal edge.

One of the ugliest manifestations of March 17 has been the wild and sectarian partying in the Holylands.

This year Queen’s University and politicians have urged students to desist from such gatherings. Given the way in which there have been parties in student digs in that part of Belfast in defiance of restrictions, it is unlikely to be fully heeded.

And if not, any coming together of crowds risks a boost to Covid rates, at just the time when vaccines are helping control virus.

It is only fair to note, however, that people across society have overwhelmingly obeyed the last year of social distancing.

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence — busy traffic levels on roads for example — that the population has not observed this lockdown the way it did the one from March 23 last year.

There is only so long you can expect an entire society to observe such rules, particularly when the suffering is so uneven — between the public and private sectors, between older people who lived their youth and younger folk who are unable to do so, between those who have gardens and those who do not.

Stormont has been exceedingly cautious in its emergence from lockdown. Now it is allowing change such as golf and garden centres from next month.

This is welcome but not the uplifting St Patrick’s Day news that it could have been.

The full return of schools, for example, from after Easter is too late and adds to the great harm to education that has already been inflicted.

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