Mayo priest hits out at Galway Race organisers

A Co Mayo priest has hit out at the organisers of the Galway Races for extending this year's festival to seven days.

Fr Micheál McGreil, a Westport-based priest and retired professor of sociology in Maynooth, says the festival will clash with a religious pilgrimage in north Connemara on Sunday.

Fr McGreil, who has revitalised the Maimean Pilgrimage in the last 30 years, has accused the race organisers of greed in extending the festival to Sunday.

"It's very hard to compete sometimes against such very, very big, highly-commercialised events, but I think we'll get a good crowd," he said.