Did Saint Patrick drive snakes out of Ireland?

While a famous legend says that St. Patrick forced snakes from Ireland, this is not a factual account. There are no native snake species in that part of the world, so St. Patrick wouldn't have had much snake banishing to do.

The legend of St. Patrick and the snakes says that the saint forced Ireland's snakes into the ocean after they attacked him during a religious fast. While native snake species can be found in most other places in the world, they are not found in Ireland.