Organisers promise improved St Patrick's Festival
The St Patrick’s Festival in Dublin will be bigger and better than ever to celebrate its 10-year anniversary, organisers promised tonight.
Over one million people are expected to pour into Dublin for the five-day extravaganza of theatre, music, comedy acts and fireworks.
Donal Shiels, chief executive of the St Patrick’s Festival committee, revealed that this year for the first time the parade will kick off on Dublin’s northside on March 17 next.
Mr Shiels said that thousands of people were expected to line out along the three-kilometre long parade route – which will start on Parnell Street and run through the city to St Patrick’s Cathedral.
“So much has changed in Ireland over the last 10 years and this very special world-class festival demonstrates how far Ireland has come,” Mr Shiels said of the event, which will run from March 16 to 20.
The committee said that over the past decade the national holiday had shed its dowdy commercial floats and blossomed into a festival.
The five-day event will host the world premiere of Donal O’Kelly’s play about the first asylum seeker to Ireland, the Cambria. Music acts playing will include Kila and master box-player Seamus Begley.
Some of the 250,000 people who travel to Irish shores from abroad will also be treated to the world’s largest outdoor Irish dancing event or ceili, a huge treasure hunt, a vintage car rally and the fireworks display Skyfest.
The committee said an independent survey had shown that the St Patrick’s Festival would boost the economy of Dublin and Irish tourism by €80m.
