There will be no St. Patrick’s Day parade in Cork this year after the decision was made to cancel the event due to concerns over coronavirus.
Cork City Council completed a risk assessment of the annual parade in Cork city and decided that it would be too risky to go ahead with it.
The decision follows a number of Cork towns opting to cancel their smaller parades on March 17 as the number of cases of coronavirus in Ireland continues to increase.
Parades in Youghal, Midleton and Blarney had all been called off in recent days and now the event in the city – which often draws as many as 50,000 members of the public to the city centre – has been cancelled.
A statement from Cork City Council reads: “In the context of the evolving circumstances around Covid-19 virus, a meeting was held this morning between the Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. John Sheehan and Chief Executive, Ann Doherty at which the holding of the St Patrick’s Day parade in the city centre was discussed.
“A risk assessment, based on World Health Organisation guidelines, was carried out by Cork City Council which concluded that based on the demographic of those attending the parade, the close proximity of people attending the event and the duration of the event (among other considerations), Cork City Council is not in a position to provide the necessary assurances in relation to current WHO Guidelines.
“Both the Lord Mayor and CE agreed that the welfare of attendees and participants is the primary concern and so, the Lord Mayor and Chief Executive have made a decision to cancel this year’s parade.”
