Taoiseach expects Ireland to retrieve economic sovereignty in 2013
The Taoiseach Enda Kenny has told more than a quarter of a million people in Chicago that Ireland is "on the way back".
Mr Kenny has marched in the parade in the Windy City with Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The parade is one of the biggest in the world.
The Taoiseach told the crowd that Ireland is "ready to stand proud on the world stage again".
Mr Kenny said: "My message to all those green shirts that I see in front of me here is that our country is on the way back. Our country has had a difficult time, we've made a number of difficult decisions, but our country is headed in the right direction
"There is now confidence and belief in ourselves and we know where our path lies. We expect in our own time, before the end of 2013, to exit from the programme that we are in and retrieve our own economic sovereignty."
