Live animal nativity crib opens in Dublin

THE country’s farmers brought the message of Christmas to the people of Dublin yesterday with a traditional crib featuring live animals.

Set in a specially-constructed, life-size stable, it is the ninth year that the IFA crib has been erected in the Mansion House forecourt in the run-up to Christmas.

It is based on a similar crib, which has been a feature of Christmas in the Grande Place, in Brussels, for many years, and is meant as a gesture of goodwill from the farmers of Ireland to the people of Dublin.