Fears over St Patrick’s parade violence

THE chief executive of the St Patrick’s Festival in Dublin yesterday said urgent action was needed to prevent the parade being marred by drunken disorder or a repeat of the violence surrounding the ‘Love Ulster’ parade nine days ago.

Donal Shiels, speaking on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics, said it was time for action to be taken to combat public drunkenness around the March 17 activities.

A large number of drunken youths caused considerable trouble at last year’s parade, prompting garda authorities to ask off-licences in the city centre to shut their premises during the parade.