Giant granny will have to spend a penny or two

When the Royal de Luxe giant granny, standing 7.5m high, moves through Limerick for three days as a highlight of the City of Culture celebrations, the enactment will have one rather delicate task to perform.

Mike Fitzpatrick, director of the City of Culture, explained: “She will move at a nice walk over the three days. She will tell stories.

“But she will also do rude things, like having a wee. It’s a long oul’ journey. And there’s no public loo to accommodate a lady of her stature. So there will be gush along the way.”

More than 200,000 people are expected to throng the city for the event, which has been seen by 18m people in 170 cities in 40 countries. The latest saga was watched by over 1m people in Liverpool, and this is the first visit of Royal de Luxe to Ireland.

It will cost about €1.5m to stage the event, which is expected to generate millions for the city.

The Government has given City of Culture €6m, and its overall budget is 10m.

The giant’s visit will involve a huge logisitic task, and visitors will be able to avail of park and ride services to various locations along the walk.

Mr Fitzatrick said: “I saw it in Liverpool and people are just captivated by it.”

He said more than 200 people are involved in the movement of the giant and 120 volunteers have been recruited in Limerick and have undergone special training.

To make way along the route, overhead cables along city centre streets have had to moved to ensure the giant granny has a clear walking route.

Iseult Byrne, project director for Royal De Luxe’s Limerick visit, said: “The saga of the giants is an ongoing one and Limerick will become part of that continuing worldwide saga through the visit of its newest giant, The Grandmother. This will be a transformative event for Limerick.”

The giant grandmother will walk over 19km around the city and sleep in designated open areas at night.