THE LARGEST IRISH event in Australia will not go ahead in 2016.
The Sydney St Patrick’s Day Parade has been cancelled for this year because of a lack of funding and building works in Sydney’s city centre.
A statement released yesterday said that the committee had been attempting to secure funding but had been unsuccessful.
“The current financial situation of the organisation, coupled with the construction works in the Sydney CBD have unfortunately resulted the event being cancelled for 2016.
“Since election in December 2015, the Committee have been working hard to reduce the debt incurred in March 2014. These endeavours will continue throughout 2016 until the debt is paid off and the Committee is in a position to fund future events.
As a community based organisation, the committee has historically relied on the generosity of the Irish Australian community, as well as businesses to help with the ever increasing costs of running this annual free event.
“It is our aim to get the Parade and Family Day back for 2017 and we are hoping that the community will continue to offer their support.”
President of the committee Robert Kineavy said that the decision was a “sad” one.
The Sydney St Patrick’s Day Parade has been one of the largest in the world and it’s with a lot of sadness that we cannot fund the event this year, however we are committed to bringing it back in 2017.
The committee appealed to anyone who felt they could support them financially to donate.
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