Mediocrity dulls magic in Galway

MACNAS may have its passport out of Galway cancelled very shortly if the reaction to this year's St Patrick's Day parade in the western city is anything to go by. Either that, or the parade directors will have to ban all adult participation.

For it was the school and community groups - some wild, some almost wonderful - that lifted a lacklustre event, dominated by the sort of advertising that downgraded Dublin's effort. One observer who had driven two hours with three children in tow said she had seen far better, with less resources, in Sligo for the past few years.

It is one of the difficulties that Galway faces, with a highly critical audience well used to the best that street theatre can give. What it got was uneven fare - some music and magic alongside the makeshift and mediocre.

Dull weather did not add to the occasion.

Highlights were the larger-than-life St Patrick, with his mitre and paper snakes, and three "Nuala" look-alikes who came from Bally-Eustace Mor (BUM). Several community groups had been infected by the Macnas touch, and it was only a pity that they had to follow the likes of the "disco-float" bearing an advertisement for one well-known hotel chain.

Visitors included the South Uist Pipe Band from the Hebrides and the San Francisco Police Department, while the group of asylum-seekers taking part seemed to be conveying a subtle message about attitudes towards them that may have been lost on younger members of the audience.

The "Salthill 15", as one onlooker nicknamed them cheerily, hail from Nigeria, Congo, and middle and eastern Europe, and are currently staying at a hotel in the suburbs while awaiting news on their applications for refugee status.