St Patrick's Day parade postponement in Cashel 'a massive own goal'

Independent Local Election candidate, Liam Browne, has said this week, that the loss of a St Patrick’s Day Parade to Cashel next weekend is a “massive own goal”.

He described not having a parade as a “lost opportunity to showcase and promote the town, as well as a huge financial blow to many of the town’s businesses, especially those in the hospitality sector”.

In a statement, he said: “The announcement was made a number of weeks ago, and was put down to a lack of volunteers available to run a large-scale event such as the parade.

“In its place, the current Parade committee intends to run a ‘festival type’ event on Saturday afternoon on the Plaza on Main Street.”

Liam said that “while this is welcome, and will be a great event, especially for young children, it will not come anywhere close to recovering the financial impact that having a full-scale parade on Sunday would have”.

Liam went on to say that “we cannot allow this situation to ever arise again”.

“If there is an issue with volunteers, or funding, or any other issues that have been cited in the past, they must be discussed months beforehand, and not allowed to wait until we lose the parade altogether.

“In discussions with business people over the past number of weeks, especially publicans and food outlets like cafés and restaurants, the loss to the town of not having thousands of people from Cashel and the surrounding areas, will run into the hundreds of thousands of euros, money which businesses cannot afford to lose.

“The fact that this year’s event would have been on a Sunday, with the Bank Holiday moving to Monday, would have meant the town could have benefitted on the double, with both Saturday and Sunday being available to make a long weekend of the celebrations.

“There should have been an event on the Plaza, and a parade.” Liam added: “Cashel is one of Ireland’s best known tourist towns.

“We need to be at the forefront of showcasing not just the town, but our own culture, our music, our dance, along with giving the many local organisations all over west Tipperary a platform to show off.

“This is a matter of identity, along with inviting groups from the many diverse communities which make up the town a chance to join in and enjoy the day.

“The schools, music and dance groups, community organisations, always looked forward to the Parade in Cashel, where they would show off not just to the locals, but the many tourists from all over the world, who come to Ireland, specifically to celebrate the national patron’s saint’s day while they were here.

“Preparations for next year must begin immediately, and ensure that it will be the biggest and best parade ever. And we should never miss out like this again.”