No change to official St Patrick's Day celebrations
The group behind the St Patrick's Day celebrations in Dublin says there will be no change to their plans for a parade on March 17, after Ireland's bishops decided to move the Church's celebration of the day to March 15 next year.
The bishops' decision was taken because March 17 coincides with the start of Holy Week.
"The festival programme for 2008, set three years ago, will go ahead as planned," the organisers said today.
"Years of planning go into each St Patrick’s festival and arrangements have been made by visiting bands, tourists and related organisations based on the official date of March 17, 2008."
The five-day festival will take place in Dublin from Thursday, March 13 to Monday, March 17 next year, with the St Patrick’s festival parade set to take place on March 17.
