Tallaght woman critical of Shrule’s Lidl-looting float

Ciara Galvin

A TALLAGHT resident has described a float which won ‘Most Entertaining’ category in the Shrule St Patrick’s Day Parade as ‘unacceptable and insulting’.
The float, which gained much attention on social media, depicted the event earlier this month when a Lidl store in Fortunestown, Co Dublin was destroyed by an excavator and looted during Storm Emma.
The float carried a Lidl store, a digger and people wearing balaclavas breaking into the shop. The scene also had a SWAT team and a sign on the float reading ‘The Tallaght Thugs’.
The Shrule float was one of a number of such floats on St Patrick’s Day around the country depicting the serious incident.
Tallaght resident Róisín Conlon, who has lived in the area her entire life said the float was ‘deeply hurtful, distasteful and offensive’ in an email sent to The Mayo News.
Ms Conlon felt that the float ‘grossly’ misrepresented the people of Tallaght.
“The banner with the words ‘The Tallaght Thugs’ is unacceptable and insulting to the people of Tallaght - who were as shocked by the incident as anybody else around the country. I fail to see how an Irish town thought it was in keeping with the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day to insult another Irish town in this manner.”
She added, “This was a pathetic attempt at humour. I refuse to accept this as appropriate in any way. I am seeking a personal apology from the people involved - as both a Mother and a Teacher in Tallaght, for damaging the reputation of our beloved town of Tallaght.”
Ms Conlon said she had contacted the Shrule St Patrick’s Day Parade Facebook page and received no response at the time of going to print.
The Shrule St Patrick’s Day committee chose not to comment on the matter when contacted by The Mayo News yesterday (Monday).