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St Patrick’s Day goes Polish
19.01.09
by Damian Dowds, Inishowen Independent
BUNCRANA'S St Patrick’s Day parade will take on a
distinctly Polish flavour with confirmation that
Poland’s Ambassador to Ireland, His Excellency Dr
Tadeusz Szumowski, will attend as guest of honour.
“This is fantastic news, not just for the local
Polish community who will get a chance to meet with
their ambassador, but also for the local people as
well,” said Kasia Wojtach, the immigrant integration
development officer with the Inishowen Development
Partnership (IDP). |
With an estimated 350
Poles residing in Inishowen, Wojtach says it will be
a particularly special day for them. “When one moves
to a new country one sometimes feels forgotten by
those at home, but it’s great to see the mother
country paying attention to the new community here
in Inishowen, especially on St Patrick’s Day.”
“It’s a great boost for the parade and the Polish
community here in Inishowen,” |
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said Sinn Féin
councillor Daren Lalor. “His visit will help promote
Buncrana and Inishowen. We already have a Polish
priest here in the town, and through the good work
of Kasia Wojtach and the IDP the local library has
the largest collection of Polish-language books in
Ireland, so this will further cement the links
between Poland and Inishowen.”
“The Polish community had a float in last year’s
parade and now we’ll have the ambassador in
attendance this year,” said Cllr Nicholas Crossan,
one of the organisers of the parade who has taken
over from the long-serving Sean McHugh. “His
itinerary is yet to be decided, but we’ll probably
hold a civic reception for him on 16 March and we’ll
have to set up a proper reviewing stand for him to
watch the parade from.”
“Who knows, it might even persuade RTÉ to send a
camera up here to cover the parade – they haven’t
been here in 20 years,” Crossan quipped. |
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