“You guys really whine, I mean: if this were happening in the US, half the room would be talking about how to get out of this economic mess. You guys just sit around moaning, it's no wonder the country's the way it is.”

Americans, like the Dutch, tell it as they see it. This particular American was of the New Jersey variety and even other Americans I've talked to reckon that people from Jersey are blunt. But he had a point: Ireland is indulging in Olympic-standard naval gazing. No pub conversation that veers too close to the black hole of the bank bailout can avoid being sucked into its enveloping mire. And this might explain why it's so difficult to find any enthusiasm for St. Patrick's Day this year.

I posted a tweet asking my mostly Irish followers if they were looking forward to St. Patrick's Day. I didn't receive a single reply, not even from people who reply to everything. I even saw one tweet saying “I might even work that day.” Now imagine a Dutchman considering working on Koninginnedag. To a large extent it seems that we'd rather not think about it, especially since the day itself, like our bank debts, has dramatically outgrown the country.

  Irish people pose for a picture holding their beer to celebrate Saint Patrick's day

It might seem strange that Ireland should shun a party, but imagine it like this: if you've ever failed an important school exam, then you know the feeling of dread when you walk home, knowing there is only one question on your parents' lips. You drag your feet, and you hope you can sneak in and reach your bedroom before anybody even notices you're home. The worldwide nature of St. Patrick's Day nowadays has turned an unwanted spotlight onto the country. We have become that child and our economic mess is his report card.

I can imagine Patrick seeing that American's censure and agreeing with him. His own story is not pretty, and nobody would have blamed him had he developed a well-crafted chip on his shoulder: He was captured during a raid on the British coast and enslaved for six years in Antrim, herding sheep. He writes of that period that he never gave up his faith and this steeled him to eventually escape back to Britain. You can dismiss his writings about captivity as somewhat rose-tinted but in a move that makes him heroic (or a maniac) he returned to the land of his captors as a priest, with the intention of converting the natives from paganism to Christianity.

He didn't have to return, and he must have wrestled with some demons (not to mention snakes) before doing so. The story of Irish people pleading with him in his dreams to return sounds more like a simple way of dodging the issue but his reasons don't matter: his spirit does.

Many Irish people might be quietly ignoring St. Patrick's Day, but possibly should pay more attention to the story of St. Patrick himself. He made it his life's mission to improve a place (as he saw it) that enslaved him. What often gets missed in all of this is that while all of the anger and bile is directed at the banks, the government and the EU, we have become a country that exports again; more than we ever did in the height of the Celtic tiger and possibly, just possibly, we'll be ready in a year or two to enjoy our patron saint's feast day once again.

Colin McGovern