A number of events planned for St Patrick’s Day in Tipperary have been cancelled.
Others are under review with decisions to be taken in the coming days.
Having put in months of work into preparing for the annual St Patrick’s Day celebrations organising committees around Tipperary will have to make some hard decisions over the coming days.
The coronavirus has led to serious concerns about the health implications for those attending large public gathering such as the annual parades on March 17th.
While the parade in Carrick on Suir is going ahead as of now a final decision will be made in relation to Roscrea this evening.
Shane Lee says the organising committee have to take the best interests of locals into account.
The St Patricks Well Committee have suspended arrangements for the annual flag raising and prayer ceremony at the religious site near Clonmel on the 17th March due to the ongoing Coronavirus issue.
They say the ceremony will be revisited depending on how the spread of the virus is contained.
The organiser’s of the Templemore St Patrick’s Day parade have already decided to pull the plug on this year’s event.
The committee there took the decision due to the increasing concern around the Covid 19 virus and the large number of withdrawals from the event.
A number of the major participants had signaled their intention not to take part this year in what would have been their 44th consecutive parade.
Committee member and local businessman Martin Grey says while the coronavirus is bound to hit the likes of cafe’s and nightclubs the long term effects will hit everyone.
The St Patrick’s Day parades Clonmel and Cahir are going ahead though the organisers say this will obviously change if there is a national directive.
The Cashel St Patrick’s Day parade committee will be meeting later today and have yet to make a decision on the fate of their event.
PRO Declan Burgess told Tipp FM News they will be keeping an eye on the national picture.
He also said a number of people have already pulled out of the parade which is a major concern.
The Nenagh St Patrick’s Day parade is one of those currently going ahead.
The committee are happy for the event to proceed, but will be taking guidance from national directives.
Chairman of the committee, Councillor Hughie McGrath said he would be interested to see if the Government only cancel parades, which reach a certain threshold.
The Thurles parade is currently under review due to the reduction in the number of entries with a number of withdrawals already.
The organising committee is meeting tonight to make a final decision
Of course the decision could be taken out of their hands if the government issues a ruling that the St Patrick’s Day parades should not take place.
The Health Minister Simon Harris says a decision will be made shortly.
