St Patrick’s Day parade cancelled for second year in a row

It was confirmed today.

Last year the country was shocked when it was announced that there would be no St. Patrick's Day celebrations due to Covid-19. Unfortunately, the same is not true of this year as it seems that this Patrick's Day will be much of the same. Organisers of the St Patrick's Festival have confirmed there will be no street parade in Dublin this year and that they will be opting for virtual events instead. According to RTE the festival committee released a statement explaining how they hope to approach St.Patrick's Day 2021 given that due to ongoing Covid fears they would not be able to run their usual events. The committee said that there will still be much to look forward to and that everyone will be able to take part from the comfort of their own home;

"A rich and dynamic programme of festival events, created by hundreds of artists, musicians, performers, makers, creators, arts and live events workers and community organisations across Ireland, will run on the St Patrick's Festival TV online channel over six days and nights"

The virtual events will take place on a special online TV channel called 'SPF TV' and will run from March 12-17. Due to the celebrations taking place online this year it means everyone can get involved, including Irish people living abroad. Of course for Irish businesses and those in the food and drink and hospitality sector this change will be yet another blow as the St.Patrick's Day tourism usually generates around €70 million, just in Dublin. It is also not known how much funding will be provided for this year's virtual celebrations but other festivals due to be organised throughout the year have been told that they will be given 25 percent of their usual allocated funding.