ST PATRICK’S DAY PARADES TO BE CALLED OFF ACROSS THE DISTRICT AMID CORONAVIRUS FEARS
GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE CALLS FOR ALL PARADES TO BE CALLED OFF
ALL St Patrick’s Day parades across the district and county are set to be cancelled following advice from the special Cabinet Committee on Covid-19 on Monday.
Emergency meetings were held over the past 24 hours by St Patrick’s Day parade committees across the district with Graiguenamanagh and Duncannon first to announce they were following the committee’s advice and cancelling.
A decision on the New Ross parade, which attracts more than 1,000 people to the town every year, was due to be confirmed late last night at a committee meeting, while the Fethard-on-Sea committee are also set to announce whether or not the village’s parade is going ahead.
The Graiguenamanagh parade was cancelled on Monday afternoon after the town’s parade committee met and the Duncannon parade was cancelled late on Monday afternoon following phone discussions.
The extreme move comes after the Government cancelled the Dublin and Cork city parades on Monday.
The special Cabinet Committee on Covid-19 spokesperson said: ‘Due to the unique nature and scale of the St Patrick’s Day festivities, in terms of size, the mass gathering of local and international travellers, and the continued progression of community transmission in some European countries, along with the emergence of a small number of cases of local transmission in Ireland, the Government has decided that St Patrick’s Day parades, including the Dublin parade, will not proceed. This is based on the advice of the National Public Health Emergency Team. The situation in relation to other events and mass gatherings remains under review and any response will be guided by the NPHET which meets again tomorrow, along with the public health advice.’
The committee was chaired by An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar and received briefings from relevant Ministers and officials, including the Chief Medical
Officer and the Chief Executive of the Health Service Executive.