The plan was to mark the 200th anniversary of the first lifeboat station established in Ireland by honouring its members as the grand marshals of the St Patrick’s Day parade in Arklow, Co Wicklow. On a positive note, there is a new arts centre too and a sensory space was opened in the library last year as part of the St Patrick’s day celebrations,” she said. “After teasing out some of the financial issues, it was agreed the new committee would be a subgroup of our Town Teams. Coincidentally, up the coast in Wicklow town, the resources of the Town Teams helped to bring its parade back from a precipice in 2025. “It is about event management at the end of the day, and towns like ours do not have the financial strength of the cities where there are budgets to pay people to organise St Patrick’s Day parades,” Hogan observes.

Source: The Irish Times February 03, 2026 15:47 UTC