The retired professor of sociology at NUI Maynooth, Fr Micheál MacGreil, has hit out at the organisers of the Galway Races for their "greed" in extending this year's festival to seven days.
"I'm annoyed at the Galway race promoters for extending the annual event out to Sunday this year. Traditionally a number of local festivals took place on that day, and it's hard to compete with an event the commercial size of the Galway Races," the priest, who is now based in Westport, Co Mayo, said.
The Maimean Pilgrimage, revitalised by Fr MacGreil over the last three decades, takes place on Sunday. "Maimean Shrine is on a pass on the Maamturk mountains in north Connemara, between the Maam valley and Recess. The shrine at St Patrick's Well-Bed is ... a gentle slope and people of all age groups usually make the annual climb. We are expecting up to a thousand people on Sunday for the Mass on the summit at 4o'clock. But the extension of the Galway race festival out to Sunday is difficult to compete with," Fr MacGreil said.
The theme of this year's pilgrimage is "Peace in Lebanon".
"Peace in the Lebanon, the Holy Land, is very important. We should be making our voices heard over what's happening to people in Lebanon," he added.